Past Legacy
by Lola Me
Summary: An unexpected arrival at SGC leads SG1 to embark on an intriguing mission to ensure the very existence of their programme. SJ within a hopefully good story! Somewhat complete! COMPLETE! Please R&R...
1. Blast from the past

**This is a repost, as I want to make sure one particular fact is clear. This story is SLIGHTLY AU. Nothing to do with the characters, but the Stargate myth is slightly altered. In this fic, you have to imagine that instead of being found in Giza in whatever year, the Stargate was confiscated by US forces from the Nazis at the end of WWII. It sounds random, but read on and it will make a bit of sense (hopefully). I came up with this idea when I saw an ep involving the Russian stargate programme. From memory, the Russians found the DHD in East Germany at the end of the war. If this isn't true, please just assume that.**

Title: Past legacy

Author: Albi

Disclaimer: None of it's mine – I am a merciless borrower of the characters belonging to Gekko and MGM.

Spoilers: Not really, certainly nothing past season 7 (as I haven't even SEEN those episodes, being as I live at the end of the Earth)

Summary: An unexpected arrival at SGC forces SG1 to undertake one of their most daring missions to ensure the very existence of their programme.

Rating: Ummm PG-13? I don't know US ratings.

-

Thanks go to Karibou, who has encouraged me and helped me format this fic into a readable form. It's my first fic and I never would have got it off the ground had it not been for her.

Note: There are a few instances where I've rewritten Stargate history (just slightly), please bear with me as otherwise my story doesn't make any sense!

-

Chapter 1

Control room, SGC

General Hammond waited anxiously, eyes fixed on the stargate with its iris closed. The wormhole had been activated off-world, and yet the only team currently on a mission – SG1 – was not due back until the next day.

"Still no signal Sergeant?"

"No sir," replied the officer, "if it's SG1 then they are obviously having difficulties."

Hammond paced the length of the window without taking his eyes off the stargate. Every time the iris was closed in this way he wished he could throw regulation out the window and just open it to let his team through; he wished there wasn't the chance of hostile access to Earth. SG1 were on a world that did not appear to be under Goa'uld influence, but you could never be sure.

"Sir. Receiving signal… it's SG1!" exclaimed the sergeant.

"Thank God – open the iris!" replied the general. "Medical team report to the gateroom!" he announced into the loudspeaker system.

At that moment Daniel Jackson appeared through the wormhole which abruptly closed behind him. Shocked, he turned and looked into the empty space left inside the great ring.

"Dr. Jackson," the general barked through the loud speaker, "where are the others?"

"I- I don't know what happened sir," Jackson stuttered, "they were right behind me. What's more, I have the only transmitter – we were kept as prisoners and had most of our belongings taken from us. We were lucky to recover this one! There didn't seem to be anyone chasing us… I guess there was some sort of gate malfunction. His eyes implored the General. If the gate activates again you have to keep the iris open – it will be them."

General Hammond looked into the eyes of his ancient civilisations expert and saw fear taking over from reason. Not being from the military, Dr. Jackson tended to let his emotions take over the safety concerns of the base – Hammond wished he could do the same. Of course he should leave the iris closed and he hoped the Colonel would not attempt to cross the event horizon knowing this. At least Major Carter should have enough sense to dissuade her superior if this was not the case.

"Negative, Dr. Jackson," he replied. "However I am authorising SG3 to leave as soon as possible to retrieve SG1. They won't try to return without a transmitter – both the Colonel and the Major, as well as Teal'c, are fully aware of this of SGC protocol with regards to off-world activations. Major Carter will be able to restrain the Colonel from taking any rash action."

"But General – Sam is injured!" Panic was rising in Daniel's voice.

Almost every mission led to a situation of extreme danger for SG1, but this didn't make those situations any easier to handle for the team members. Hammond looked at Daniel and tried to transmit a sense of calm in his voice that betrayed his hidden fears for Major Carter.

"Dr. Jackson, it will only take ten minutes for SG3 to be ready to go – they were scheduled for a mission at 1300 in any case. We will bring Sam back and promptly get her to the infirmary."

At that moment, the stargate came to life. Daniel, and the medical personnel who had insisted on verifying his well-being during his conversation with the General, jumped in surprise before precipitating off the ramp as quickly as possible.

"Unauthorised off-world gate activation!" The Sergeant's voice boomed over the loudspeaker system as the alert siren sounded. "No signal being received!"

"General!"screamed Daniel, "It's them! You have to leave the iris open and let them through!"

General Hammond stood motionless overlooking the spinning inner wheel of the gate, torn between his desire to give Colonel O'Neill a chance and his more reasonable voice urging him to close the iris. Surely O'Neill wouldn't attempt to enter the wormhole without first transmitting a signal… But then, perhaps they assumed the close proximity between Daniel's arrival and theirs would convince SGC that this activation was not hostile.

"Dr. Jackson, was there a Goa'uld presence on this planet?" the General asked through the loudspeaker.

"No General!"came the fast reply. "It was a considerably undeveloped civilisation – they thought we were evil spirits and the warriors of the tribe took us captive to be offered as sacrifices to a God no-one in living memory has seen. It appeared as if the Goa'uld had not been present for generations. If any of them do come through, their weapons are vastly inferior to ours and they would NOT be a threat!"

General Hammond considered this quickly. A breach of protocol would probably be held against him at a later date, but it appeared as if the benefit outweighed the risk. He instructed the sergeant to leave the iris open.

"Ok you have it Dr. Jackson, but please stand at the back of the room, lest anyone other than the rest of SGI come through that gate!"

Daniel and the various medics assembled in the gateroom retreated against the far wall as a good twenty soldiers placed themselves at the ready to defend the SGC from attack. What actually came through the gate was something no one had expected.

A short, slight, woman with dark eyes and hair, wearing some kind of ill-fitting army uniform, stumbled onto the gate ramp, her arms clamped over her head in a protective gest. Not one of the soldiers moved, although surprise and incomprehension was clearly discernible in their expressions.

As the gate deactivated and silence returned to the room the woman disengaged her arms enough so that she could take in her surroundings. This slight movement caused the soldiers to flinch, ready to fire at the first sign of danger.

"_Ne tirez pas!_" she cried out, arms stretched out in defence. "_Je ne suis pas armée! Je suis venue vous demander de l'aide – il y a un grand danger qui menace ma planète!_"

Daniel blinked in surprise – this was the first person from another planet they had encountered who spoke French.

"General!" he exclaimed quickly. "She's speaking French – she said not to shoot and that she's not armed. She is here to ask our help; apparently her planet is threatened in some way."

General Hammond was just as surprised as Daniel sounded – this woman had evidently not come from the planet SG1 were currently stranded on.

"Lieutenant Marks,"he instructed one of the soldiers in the gateroom, "escort this woman to the containment cells. Go with them, Dr. Jackson – I want you to find out what she is doing here."

"What about the rest of my team General?" asked Daniel, still visibly shocked by the unexpected visitor.

"SG3 is currently waiting outside the gateroom and will leave immediately. All men stand down_," _he instructed to the soldiers and then, turning to the Sergeant sitting next to him_, "_prepare for SG3's departure."

Unknown planet, at the stargate

Jack O'Neill was stunned to find himself and Major Carter – severely injured and semi-conscious in his arms – not back on Earth. Instead they were standing on the other side of the stargate, still on the same planet. He swung around to face Teal'c with an exasperated expression on his face. The Jaffa had stopped short of stepping through the now inactive ring.

"What the hell was that?" He exclaimed, trying not to disturb the soldier in his arms. "Teal'c? Why did the gate deactivate?"

"I am not sure O'Neill," his friend mused, "it appears as if it disengaged of its own accord after Daniel Jackson departed."

"Ya think!" The desperate Colonel spat out. "Dial home again! We need to get Carter to the infirmary as soon as possible!"

At that point Carter's eyes fluttered as she momentarily regained consciousness. She tried to speak, but with difficulty. O'Neill hurriedly carried her to the side of the gate and lay her on the ground to try and make her more comfortable.

"Don't worry Carter,"he reassured her, "we'll have you home in no time. The Doc'll fix you up and before you know it, you'll be ruining your holidays by doing God knows what in that lab of yours."

"Sir… we can't…"she struggled to get the words out.

"Shhh. Relax Sam – I'm the one giving orders right?"He looked at her with amusement; trust Carter of all people to try and boss him around at a time like this. "We most certainly CAN get back, that's what this funny big ring-like thing does – it gets us home!"

Teal'c had by this time approached the DHD but stopped short of dialling home.

"Major Carter is correct, O'Neill. Daniel Jackson had the only transmitter; were we to enter the stargate, we would be killed upon impact of your iris."

"Aw can it Teal'c," O'Neill replied impatiently, "Daniel's only just got there, they'll know it's us!"

Even as he said those words, O'Neill realised that Teal'c was right. Although Daniel would surely try to persuade the General Hammond to open the iris, protocol would probably win out and the iris would remain closed as a security measure.

"Shit_." _He cursed to himself before turning to Teal'c. "You're right – we'll have to wait until they come for us. It should only take a couple of minutes. Help me with Carter."

Carter had yet again lost consciousness and O'Neill propped her up against him on the ground as best as he could to make her more comfortable. She had received a heavy blow to the head when they were captured by the local population and had yet to regain consciousness for more than a matter of seconds. O'Neill looked at her with worry in his eyes, and affectionately ran his fingers along the soft skin of her face; years of experience had told him that head injuries were NEVER to be taken lightly. He only hoped that General Hammond would ensure the rapid envoy of another team to rescue them. Looking briefly at Teal'c, he saw the Jaffa held the same hope in his heart. He leant down, stopping with his lips centimetres away from Carter's ear.

"It's okay Sam, he whispered, "we've been through much worse than this, and we always come out on top."

Carter stirred slightly at the sound of these words but remained unconscious. O'Neill sighed and leant back against the rock supporting him. Teal'c joined him sitting on the ground as they waited.

Containment cell #4, SGC

The French woman sat on the bed in the bare cell with her knees hugged to her chest. Her eyes darted back and forth along the room and she pressed herself against the wall in fear. Daniel sat stiffly on an uncomfortable metal chair, just looking at her. It seemed obvious that she was not a security risk, and yet it was imperative that he gain her trust – otherwise the adrenaline that was surely pumping through her system would cause her to lash out.

"Do you speak English? _Parlez-vous anglais?_"he spoke softly and slowly, so as not to alarm her.

The woman flinched visibly at the sound but nodded her head slightly in the affirmative, her eyes still wide with fear.

"A little bit,_" _she replied in a wavering voice and pronounced accent, "I am at more easy with _français_."

"Okay, I'll speak to you in French for the time being – _je vous parlerai en français pour l'instant_."

Relief washed over the woman's face briefly before he muscles tightened again in general anxiety. Daniel looked at her carefully and began questioning her in French.

"Can you tell me about yourself and where you're from?" He asked, trying to give her an encouraging smile.

"My name is Élodie," the woman replied cautiously, "Élodie Chabrol. I am a professor at an educational institution known as l'Université de Brest, in a country called France on my home planet – _la Terre_."

She stopped speaking as she saw Daniel's jaw drop in disbelief. She hugged her knees tighter still and closed her mouth, afraid of having said something to anger her captor. Until this point, Daniel's attention had been split between assessing the woman – Élodie – sitting in front of him, and listening for the sound of SG3's return with the rest of his team. These last words, however, fully grabbed his attention. He sat forward, tense on the edge of the chair.

"You mean, France as in the country that has Paris for its capital?"Daniel stuttered in his amazement. "France that shares borders with Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and Spain?"

"And Andorra," the woman replied meekly, "you know it? You have been to my world? Then surely you know that in France we are nation that values peace, we do not want another Great War – unlike some others."

Daniel looked carefully at the woman, who now appeared hopeful that he may in fact know 'her planet'. Questions raced through his mind – could she have dialled Earth from Earth; did France have a stargate? He realised the impossibility of the first and the unlikelihood of the second before the answer came to him.

"Madame Chabrol,"he asked, choosing his words carefully, "could you tell me the exact date, in your terms, that you stepped through the stargate – that ring you came through?"

Élodie appeared confused by his question but answered promptly.

"July 16, 1937"

Élodie stared at the door closing behind Daniel Jackson as he raced out the door. Panic again rose within her and she felt nauseous with fear. She had said something wrong – again – but she didn't know how a simple date could cause such a reaction.

Corridor, SGC

Daniel exhaled slowly and looked to the ceiling as he digested the information he had just gathered. The guard stationed outside the containment cells looked at him quizzically but said nothing. Daniel tried to think back to modern history classes from his first-year in college – before he was permitted to specialise in subjects that addressed ancient history only. France in the 1930s… he couldn't remember much about the time or place apart from the fact that there was a political left-wing alliance government formed in order to combat 'fascism' and maintain peace – two rather contradictory aims. He didn't even know if this government was in power in 1937. He rubbed his temples to try and leech out any more information from his overtaxed brain. It occurred to him that the circumstances of this woman's arrival were more bizarre than he had first thought: Brest was in Brittany, on the far west coast of France – nowhere near where the stargate had been found – and confiscated from the _Nazis _– by allied forces in 1945. Furthermore, how did this French professor make the stargate work, and why wasn't the SGC aware of this previous activation? But most of all: what possible threat was there in 1937 in France that would push someone to come through the stargate in search of help?

As these and more questions careened around Daniel's mind, with each though more perplexing than the last, the warning sirens sounded accompanied by the Sergeant's voice over the loudspeaker.

"Off-world activation of the stargate!"

Daniel jolted out of his pensive state and rushed to the gateroom.

Briefing room, SGC

O'Neill paced the length of the briefing room with impatience. He most certainly did not see the point in holding a debriefing immediately when Carter was so severely injured in the infirmary. He couldn't fathom what the hell Daniel thought was so important that they had to ignore the fact that one of them was severely injured. He belonged by her side – not here waiting for Daniel and General Hammond to join him and Teal'c. What was there to say that couldn't wait a while? It's not like he ever listened to what anyone else said in this room anyway; and Teal'c could always give their version of events for both of them. He kicked the chair at the head of the table in frustration just as General Hammond entered the room, followed by Daniel.

"Colonel!" O'Neill jumped at the sound of his superior's voice, "I appreciate your impatience to be elsewhere but Dr. Fraser assures me that Major Carter's condition is stable for the moment. She will alert us to any change in that status."

"Of course sir," he murmured, slumping into the nearest chair with a sense of resignation, "but there really is nothing to tell: we came, we saw, we were captured, we escaped and – voilà! – here we are, albeit with a gate malfunction in the mix." O'Neill settled sulkily into his chair, resembling a two-year-old who had been deprived of a treat.

Daniel sat opposite O'Neill and cleared his throat.

"Actually Jack,"he began, "there was no gate malfunction. It's ironic that you used the word 'voilà' because…"

O'Neill shifted uncomfortably in his seat while Daniel explained the situation regarding the French woman. It wasn't that he couldn't understand what Daniel was trying to say, more that he didn't care – he wanted to know how Carter was. Glancing briefly at Teal'c, he saw with a sigh that the Jaffa appeared to be directing all his attention to the archaeologist. Resigned to his fate, O'Neill redirected his attention to Daniel.

"Let me get this straight,"he interrupted, leaning forward towards Daniel, "we're having this briefing because some French woman from 70 years ago came through the stargate asking for our help? And this couldn't wait a couple of hours?" He sat up suddenly with a gleam of triumph. "You left the iris open thinking it would be us didn't you! Ha! Told you so Teal'c."

"You may have been right O'Neill_," _the Jaffa kept his voice calm_, "_however the risk outweighed the benefit."

O'Neill sighed and sank back into his chair, remembering again why he would prefer to be in the infirmary (not a common occurrence) than listening to some fairytale about a French woman. He couldn't even enjoy being right for once not knowing whether she was going to be okay.

"Jack_," _continued an exasperated Daniel_, "_the point isn't really that this woman got through, but more that she came through the stargate from WESTERN France BEFORE the Second World War! This is amazing – we never even fathomed that it may have been found in Brittany."

For possibly the first time (and almost definitely the last time) in the history of SG1, it was O'Neill's face that lit up in comprehension in the face of facts that baffled Daniel.

"_Asterix," _he whispered

Daniel had trouble dealing with the shock, this was definitely not turning out to be an ordinary day. Perhaps O'Neill was yet again channelling some of his subconscious knowledge of the Ancients. He glanced at General Hammond, who appeared just as baffled.

"O'Neill_," _Teal'c spoke for everyone present in the room, "what is this 'Asterix?'"

"Oh, um… _Asterix_ was a comic book that I read as a kid," he continued despite the sound of annoyed disbelief that came out of Daniel's mouth, "basically it told stories of battles between Julius Caesar and the last remaining Celtic tribe in Brittany, of which a warrior named Asterix was a member."He paused briefly as he saw comprehension wash over Daniel's face. "I don't know much about the actual history it was based on, but this tribe had what was called a Druid – something between a doctor, a priest, a wizard and an intellectual – who had great powers handed down to him from ancient Gods. Right Daniel?"

"Of course! Why didn't I think of this before!" Daniel removed and replaced his glasses on his face numerous times with excitement. "The goddess Dana of Ireland was meant to be the mother of all Gods, much like Hathor – this is another ancient civilisation that worshipped the Goa'uld. In Brittany they particularly worshipped Belenos, God of Light – that could have been the Goa'uld Ra!"

O'Neill rose from the table with a sense of purpose before precipitating towards the door.

"Great, now that I've solved your puzzle for you, I think I'll be off." He was gone before anyone could digest the burst of sarcasm that had exploded out of his mouth.

Exterior perimeter, Cheyenne Mountain base

An elderly woman approached the military checkpoint in her hire car. She had never seen the exterior of the base before but knew that well beneath its surface lay the stargate. The people she needed to talk to were SG1. She had waited decades for this moment, her entire life given purpose by what she was about to do. As she slowed to a stop she could see the amused curiosity of the young soldier approaching her. She had never really considered how she was going to get into the base, all she knew was that whatever she did, she was going to get in and talk to General Hammond, as well as one Élodie Chabrol.

Briefing room, SGC

"General sir, there's an elderly woman at the surface demanding to meet with you, SG1, and someone called Élodie Chabrol –" The soldier stopped short when he heard the combined gasps from General Hammond and Dr. Jackson.

"How could?… What?… General I need to speak with this woman!"Daniel's hand reached towards the glasses on his face in yet another fit of excitement.

"I believe one must be cautious with such a person," Teal'c directed his attention to General Hammond, _"_perhaps we should escort her to the containment cells and ascertain her true motives – and how she knows of our existence here – before assenting to such an impertinent demand."

Daniel, however, did not remain in the briefing room long enough to hear Teal'c's words of caution. Like O'Neill had done so just recently, he was gone from the room before anyone could stop him. General Hammond sighed in exasperation – SG1 seemed to be less and less concerned with protocol every day.

"It appears as if this debriefing is over, Teal'c_,"_ he rose from the table,_ "_please follow Dr. Jackson; I imagine he is en route to the surface. Dismissed."

Ground floor, Cheyenne Mountain base

Daniel exited the lift and stopped short. Sitting patiently next to the guard's desk was a frail woman of roughly 90 years with a shock of white hair not all that different to that of Albert Einstein. The woman's reaction to seeing Daniel caused him to freeze totally; she moved swiftly towards him, smiling joyously and proceeded to embrace him in an all-giving hug.

"Is it really you? C'est vraiment vous?"Daniel gasped the words out with difficulty. "Élodie?"

"I speak much better English now,"she giggled_, "_however I had forgotten the strength of your accent when you spoke French!"

Slightly indignant, Daniel stepped back in amusement.

"Accent! I'll have you know that I am one of the galaxy's great linguists!"

"How I have missed you," Élodie hugged Daniel again, both ignoring his comment and this time using the informal tense, indicating a certain familiarity with the archaeologist

"You missed me!" Daniel's expression advanced from indignation to disbelief, "I imagine you've got quite a tale to tell us."

Waving away the guard on duty, Daniel motioned for the elder Élodie to enter the lift. All the way down he couldn't help but notice his guest stealing glances at him from the corner of her eye. Daniel began to speculate as to the true nature of his relationship with both Élodie Chabrols.

Infirmary, SGC

O'Neill sat in the chair next to the still-unconscious Carter, torn between concern for her and the knowledge that he should probably be elsewhere. Janet's words still floated in his head plaguing him, fuelling his nightmare: "_The results of the scan show a great deal of trauma", _she had said gently. "_I have every confidence in Sam's fighting spirit, but we need to be prepared for the worst Jack. In cases like this there is the possibility of brain damage."_

Brain damage. The words flew around his head causing a feeling of panic to rise within his chest. Brain damage was one of the things Carter feared above all – her intellect was paramount to her identity. Physical disability or disfigurement would not change the Carter he knew, but her character was what made her so special: smart, funny, beautiful, …, beautiful.

"You know she never gave up hope with you either, all those times you were in trouble." Janet's voice filtered slowly through to O'Neill. He looked up to see her concerned eyes trained on him. "I don't know how you two cope seeing each other in such dangerous circumstances every other day. It obviously takes such a toll on both you when something goes wrong. "

O'Neill nodded in agreement with the good Doctor. Every time they stepped through the stargate he prayed that nothing untoward would happen to her. That's why he tried to always stay close on missions; that was why he could not imagine her ever serving on a different SG team. If she was going to be captured or hurt, he was either going to stop it or suffer the same fate. As he looked at her now he felt a wave of guilt threaten to destroy his resolve. Her usually radiant face was pale and withdrawn; her hair was flattened against her head with a large bandage extending around her head.

"Oh God Sam I'm so sorry," he whispered, eyes closed with anguish.

He reached out to touch her hand, hoping for any change in her state which could indicate that she acknowledged his presence. Alas, the machines kept beeping with maddening regularity and Carter didn't stir.

"She will recover Colonel."

Jack spun around to face the door and rose, trembling with anger at what he saw. An elderly woman – a stranger no less, with a foreign accent – was standing at the doorway.

"Who the hell are you?" He hissed ferociously forcing the woman out the door.

As soon as he reached the corridor he stopped in sheer disbelief. First Daniel forces him to sit in on a completely irrelevant briefing, and now he allows some stranger to burst in on the infirmary!

"Daniel!"O'Neill was now positively shaking with rage, trying to contain his voice so as not to disturb the patient inside. "What the hell is the meaning of this? Is THIS the French woman that came through the stargate? I told you before and I'll say it again: this story of time travel can WAIT!"

Daniel took the tirade directed at him patiently. He knew his friend was suffering, as he had been himself ten minutes earlier. What Élodie had told him, however, allowed his hopes to rise.

"Jack_," _he began, "this isn't the French woman who came through the gate. Well… it is in a way, but not exactly."

"What on Earth is that supposed to mean?"Jack blustered, throwing his arms up in despair, "just because I made the connection with Celtic religion back there in the briefing room doesn't mean that I've suddenly become able to follow your 'unique' logic!" He turned to Teal'c. "Do you have any idea about what the hell this is about?"

O'Neill needed to know exactly what was going on as quickly as possible so that he could get back to Carter.

"Indeed Daniel Jackson speaks the truth, O'Neill," the Jaffa's voice brought some calm to the storm in the corridor. "This woman is Élodie Chabrol, aged 92, from Brittany in France; the woman who came through the gate is that same person, however aged 29. As such the woman before you is in a position to tell you of Major Carter's well-being as she has witnessed the events to come in the near future."

"Well then… ah… are you sure?" O'Neill was suddenly suspicious, not willing to be duped into a false sense of hope.

"We're just running the DNA analysis now sir," Janet appeared seemingly out of nowhere from behind O'Neill, causing him to startle, "however the knowledge she has displayed seems to indicate that she is telling the truth."

"She's right Jack,"the sparkle had reappeared in Daniel's eye, "and according to her Sam has to recover because we need her to ensure the very existence of the stargate programme!"

O'Neill leant against the wall for support, willing himself to believe his friends' words; the information regarding the future of the SGC certainly intrigued the soldier in him. He stole a glance into the infirmary to look at Carter – still motionless on the bed – and silently prayed that this French woman was who she said she was.

Briefing room, SGC

His friends may have persuaded O'Neill that Carter was going to recover, but that didn't mean he was happy to be sitting in a chair in the briefing room instead of in the infirmary. At least this time he saw a clear interest in paying attention to the meeting; he wanted to know every detail about their "two" French guests and their purpose. He swivelled absent-mindedly in his chair and looked to General Hammond, who appeared to be just as impatient as he was.

Footsteps sounded along the corridor and Teal'c appeared, accompanying the elderly Élodie Chabrol. She looked apprehensive in the face of the military men seated at the long table. She knew that she had, in a sense, already done what she was about to do – but it was still difficult to imagine a way to persuade two of the most wilful men she'd ever met in her life that the mission she was recommending was in fact not only a good idea but also necessary. Most of all, she dreaded having to face herself. She remembered entering the same room all those years ago, being faced with the reality that she had not escaped to another planet, but rather into the future. She vividly remembered her fear and incomprehension; it almost paralysed her as she had sat in the briefing room.

O'Neill switched his attention from the increasingly anxious-looking elderly woman to the doorway where Daniel appeared, a petrified looking woman clamped fast to his right arm. He muttered something to her in French, which caused O'Neill to momentarily raise his eyebrows in surprise; he should have figured that Daniel spoke French as well as roughly 10 different alien languages.

"Dr. Jackson," General Hammond cleared his throat_, "_I take it we're about to learn what is going on here?"

"Uh yes General."Daniel turned towards the bald Texan, never letting go of the young woman's hand clasped to his. "I think it would be best if we allow the elderly Élodie Chabrol to enlighten us – I have only been able to piece certain aspects together at this point."

"Right then,"Hammond turned towards the elderly woman, "I'm eager to hear what this is all about, Madame Chabrol."

The elderly woman nodded and looked across to her younger self, trying to convey a reassuring smile.

"Daniel,"she began_, "_perhaps you should translate for m… for the woman next to you, so that I… I mean 'she' can properly understand the situation at hand."Turning to Hammond and O'Neill, she began slowly.

"When I was a child, my father discovered the great ring that you called the stargate, as well as its control-device which I think you call the DHD, in a gully in my native region of France – Brittany. He was a scholar of Celtic civilisation and understood the stargate to be a monument spoken of by the druids that was supposed to transport a true believer to see the Gods. Of course he didn't for a second imagine that this could be close to the truth – usually such legends have more metaphoric meaning in reality. Unfortunately my father was killed during the Great War, but I dedicated myself to discovering the secrets of the stargate. I studied Celtic civilisation as well as physical sciences at university in France, and then gained a special research grant from the newly formed Ministry of Education in 1936; the government hoped to be able to make the device work to help the current – I mean then-current – situation in France. "

With these words, the younger Élodie could no longer remain silent in her seat. Clinging still to Daniel her eyes had grown wide with amazement at the story she was hearing. In her heavily accented English she spoke out against her older self.

"But how is it that you know these things? You must be an imposer – if you really know who I am then you must know that you… you… threat my future by stopping action!"

The elderly Élodie held her hand out and touched that of her younger self.

"_Chérie_," she spoke softly in French, "when you crossed the great puddle before you that day the portal did not work as a gateway to another planet, but as a time machine – you have come forward many years and are now in America, for this is where the stargate now resides. I know how frightened and confused you are; because I am you and you are me."

With those words the older Élodie pulled her sleeve up on her left arm to reveal a still deep scar that extended from her shoulder halfway down to her elbow.

"Remember when you were 15 and you fell while crossing the railway tracks? You were so scared later at the doctor's that Father stayed with you for 48 hours straight. I remember."

The younger Élodie looked to Daniel for confirmation, who nodded his head slowly.

"I believe she's right, Élodie," he spoke in French, then English for the benefit of those present. "It is true that the stargate should transport you to other planets, however on certain occasions there are complications that result on it acting as a time machine. This has happened to us once before so we know it is possible to return to your time. We can fix this."

General Hammond cleared his throat to regain Daniel's attention. The latter searched the younger Élodie Chabrol's eyes for reassurance that she was okay before turning away.

"If everything is ok, Dr. Jackson, I think we should continue." He motioned at the elderly woman to continue.

"Actually General Hammond_," _Madame Chabrol replied, "I think it would be best if my younger self spoke at this point."She glanced sideways at Daniel, a smile in her eyes, "Daniel once told me that it would be best if I said only enough to make you listen to myself – any more and we may unwittingly change the course of history."

Daniel looked surprised at this statement but said nothing. Reflecting upon these words he recognised the wisdom of what she said.

"In any case," the woman continued_, "_Major Carter will soon regain consciousness; perhaps the Colonel would like to be at her side when this occurs. My younger self perhaps needs the time to digest what she has just learned."

Her eyes held an interesting sparkle as she said those words, looking pointedly at O'Neill. The Colonel managed to stop his mouth from dropping open at the tone of this comment – his mind raced as he considered the implications of what she said. It appeared as if this woman knew him better than he had immediately thought; she certainly knew of his affection – however inappropriate – for Carter. Looking towards General Hammond he exchanged a quick glance with this superior, who gave him a quick nod of approval. O'Neill left the briefing room just as he heard Hammond postpone the meeting until Carter would be able to participate.

Infirmary, SGC

O'Neill couldn't take his eyes off Carter – ten minutes and she still hadn't woken up. He didn't want to lose hope, but "soon" was fast becoming "later" without any change.

"I know you are starting to doubt the accuracy of my prediction, Colonel." The elder Élodie stood in the doorway. "In truth she will awaken in a matter of minutes. I wanted to be able to talk to you beforehand, as although I am wary of altering the course of history, I believe that telling you what I am about to now will only change your future – not our past."

O'Neill looked at the woman warily but said nothing; she took this as a sign of encouragement and sat down next to him.

"What you feel for this woman cannot be ignored. Many years ago I was forced to give up someone I love, it was an impossible love. Yours is difficult, yes, but not impossible. Please remember this."

O'Neill gawked at the woman sitting next to him in surprise. He mechanically opened and shut his mouth repeatedly but no sound came out. Élodie appeared to stifle a giggle at this typical reaction and patted him lightly on the arm before slipping out of the room – just as Carter's eyes showed signs of opening.

Briefing room, SGC – the next day

"Major Carter," Teal'c's calm eyes were directed to his colleague, "I hope that you are feeling better after your ordeal on our last mission."

Carter shifted her gaze from O'Neill to look at the Jaffa.

"Thank you Teal'c_," _warmth emanated from her eyes,_ "_I'm feeling fine – just anxious to listen to what Élodie has to say, Colonel O'Neill has already brought me up to speed about yesterday's meetings."

The three of them were yet again seated in the comfortable chairs around the briefing room table, O'Neill and Carter next to each other facing the door with Teal'c opposite them, waiting for the arrival of Daniel, the General and their two foreign guests. Carter shifted her eyes back to her superior officer, as seemed to occur frequently. Upon waking yesterday he had been there – looking much the worst for wear, an anxious expression on his face. She knew that had he been in the same predicament, she wouldn't have left his side either. Considering this she mused, not for the first time, that things could have been remarkably different had he not been her commanding officer. She smiled slightly at the thought of a life outside of work with O'Neill. He saw her smile and winked at her, pulling her out from within her thoughts just as Daniel, General Hammond and the younger French woman entered. The two Air Force officers stood in a salute as the General entered and swiftly re-seated themselves.

"At ease Colonel, Major."He sat at the head of the table. "This promises to be a most interesting meeting I'd say. The elderly Madame Chabrol was taken ill this morning and will not be joining us; however as she herself said that we should hear this tale from her younger self, we shall proceed."

Élodie looked to Carter and gave a questioning look to Daniel, in search of reassurance. He was about to speak when Carter herself jumped in, speaking gently.

"_Ne vous inquietez pas, _don't worry_," _she said in perfect French. "I am part of this team and wish only to help you in any way we can. "

O'Neill raised his eyebrows in surprise, who would have known that his favourite team member spoke French!

"Major Carter,"Teal'c spoke for everyone in the room, "I was not aware that you were versed in this woman's native tongue."

Carter grinned, pleased to be able to display knowledge in a field other than science.

"I'm an army brat Teal'c, my father was stationed in France for a while when I was younger and I learned the language pretty well."She chanced a quick glance at O'Neill to gauge his reaction and nearly burst out laughing upon seeing the look of astonishment on his face.

Daniel nodded at Sam in thanks, glad to see that she had so ably put Élodie at ease. The latter was now starting to relax, two of those around her spoke French well and the new woman seemed to really want to help. She took a deep breath and began her tale, Daniel translating for O'Neill, Teal'c and General Hammond.

"As I… well I guess it was me… well as the 'other' me said yesterday, I have been working with what I think you call the "stargate" for over a year now. I understand from what Daniel said that it took your government many years to comprehend how it functions, but unlike you we were lucky enough to have information passed down from the druids, as well as the accompanying alien device that controls the great ring. The stargate was kept as part of a secret research station in my home town of Brest, and we were preparing for its evacuation upon a commercial vessel to the United States in face of the danger that presents itself currently…"she paused, "I mean 'then.'"

O'Neill couldn't stop himself from interrupting at this point.

"I'm sorry, danger?"He looked quizzically from Élodie to Daniel. "As I understand it, 1937 is a good couple of years before-"

"Yes I know Jack,"Daniel cut him off before he could mention the war, a fact that could well alarm Élodie_, "_I'm a bit puzzled as well on this front – modern history is not my forte – but there must be some sense of perceived danger or else she wouldn't have tried to go to another planet through the stargate. I'm sure we'll find out soon enough if you stop interrupting."

Carter jumped in at this point, seeing the look of increasing scepticism on O'Neill's face.

"Actually,"she directed her attention to both Daniel and O'Neill_, "_there was indeed a great sense of danger in the time Élodie came from. A year before, a left-wing coalition known as the Popular Front had won the national elections on the premise that they were going to fight fascism and maintain peace." She grinned slightly as she saw the surprised look of awe reappear on O'Neill's face. "I realize that these two platforms sound rather contradictory, which is an important reason why the period was so unstable. If I'm remembering right, the Prime Minister has either just been forced to resign or soon will in the summer of 1937; at this point in France there was a dangerous polarization internal politics. The country was on the brink of civil war, not only because of internal threats, but also because of the danger presented from Hitler, as well as Franco's forces in the Spanish Civil War."

O'Neill was speechless. He knew Carter was bright – definitely brilliant – but he had no idea that she was a veritable expert on 20th Century European history as well.

"Jeez Carter,"he blustered, "if you turn out to have any other talents we're going to have to start paying you way more!"

"Just because I specialized in science and astrophysics doesn't mean I'm not a well-rounded person,"she retorted, her cheeks going red with embarrassment. "I actually started college with pretty much no idea of what I wanted to do and so took classes in a bit of everything – including French history."

Élodie was looking confused by the exchanges taking place; her eyes darted uncertainly towards Daniel. Again it was Carter who reassured her.

"_Ils ont juste un peu de mal à comprendre. _They're just having trouble understanding,"Carter again displayed her competency in speaking French, "the time you come from is not much studied in our history classes unless you specialize at college – which I did. Please continue, although I know of the general conditions in France in your time, I'm still puzzled – what can we do to help?"

Relief again washed over Élodie's face and she prepared herself to continue. Carter held her hand up to silence both Colonel O'Neill and General Hammond. Attention was again directed towards Élodie and her translator.

"As I said, in light of the danger posed by the fascists not only from Hitler and Franco, but from Great Britain's unwillingness to commit to help us, we have organized for the stargate to be transported to America. The only problem is that we must have had a spy in our midst; I was working on the gate late at night when I was overcome by several men dressed in black who spoke Spanish. They drugged me somehow and I woke up, I don't know how much later, in a storage facility dressed in this strange uniform."She glanced down at her ill-fitting army fatigues. "I think I was in south-west France as the radio was a mix of French and Basque."

"That's an ancient dialect spoken in North West Spain and south west France,"Daniel interjected for the benefit of the others.

He nodded to Élodie that she may continue.

"They took me with them because they wanted me to instruct them how to use the stargate – they thought it was a powerful weapon. I activated the gate while they were distracted, entering the only coordinates we found, and ended up here."She took a sip of water before continuing. "I went through the stargate in search of help from some aliens, but now direct my plea to you: please come back with me and help retrieve the stargate from its Spanish revolutionary captors!"

No-one spoke for what seemed like an eternity to Élodie. Even Daniel would not meet her eye; he seemed to be in deep reflection within himself. She looked to O'Neill and Carter, who looked just as lost in thought, although their eyes were fixed on each other. Finally General Hammond himself took charge of the situation.

"Dr. Jackson,"he began, "I don't understand. If we discovered the stargate, without DHD, in Germany, then how is it that in 1937 it was in Spain?"

O'Neill slapped his hand onto the table with approval.

"My question exactly! I bet even you don't know that, Carter!"His eyes glinted playfully

"Well…" began Daniel_, "_the Spanish insurgents received a lot of military aid from Italy and Germany… it's possible that they exchanged the stargate with Hitler for more aid…"

He stopped as the elderly Madame Chabrol appeared at the door, accompanied by a marine.

"Actually Daniel_," _her voice wavered slightly, reflecting her weakened state, "Franco's forces intended to use what they thought was a weapon against the French. The general had no intention of letting Hitler even know of its existence. You no doubt know that Spain remained neutral during the Second World War; if you do nothing the stargate will remain hidden in Spain, with no way for the allied forces to discover its existence for many years to come."

Carter sat up in her chair, realization evident in her expression.

"You're saying we have to make sure Hitler's forces find the gate so that we can then find it at the end of the war?"She gasped in horror. "Please tell me we don't have to make sure the French lose against the Germans at the beginning of the war!"

Carter thought she was going to be sick. She knew all to well the consequences of the "bizarre war" that occurred between France and Germany before the occupation and the Vichy regime. The thousands of French Jews exported to concentration camps, the lives lost in the London bombings – made possible by German occupation of France. Never in her life had she imagined that part of the responsibility for these horrific events would be with SG1.

"I cannot tell you what to do, Samantha_," _Madame Chabrol's face was dark with grief as she too remembered the conditions of the Second World War. "However what is important is that you ensure the gate's capture by Hitler's forces. I will try to explain as much to my younger self."

O'Neill reached over and clasped Carter's hand. He looked into her eyes calmly, seeing the distress in her expression.

"Carter,"he began, "we don't know that Hitler won't just overrun the French army. All we have to do is put the gate somewhere near the border where they'll find it. Hell – we can take it into Germany ourselves; then it will be up to the German and French armies to fight it out."A part of him was surprised to see his other hand reach towards Carter squeeze her arm in reassurance. "We won't be able to prevent the war – you know that – but we'll sure as hell do our best not to make it worse."

Carter couldn't take her eyes off O'Neill's. Silent thoughts of comfort were transmitted between them. The spell was only broken by the sound of General Hammond clearing his throat.

"Major,"he spoke forcefully, but without reproach – he just wanted to get her attention._ "_Do you think you can safely get SG1 to 1937 and back?"

Carter tore her eyes away from O'Neill's with difficulty.

"Yes sir,"she was glad to have a task at hand to keep her mind busy, "I'll start the simulations immediately._"_

The General and members of SG1 suddenly turned in unison at the sound of two soft 'thumps'. Both Élodie Chabrols had collapsed to the floor and were now in seizures. As Daniel, the marine in the doorway and Teal'c rushed over to try and stabilise them while General Hammond's hand leapt to the phone, requesting medical assistance. A startled Carter directed her attention towards O'Neill and Hammond.

"I think I'd better start immediately."She rose from the table as she spoke, her hand slipping from its contact with O'Neill. "I don't think the two of them can co-exist for long in the same timeframe."

"Absolutely major," General Hammond and O'Neill also rose to their feet. "You have a go for this mission, providing you both come up with a plan. Major: I need a plan for your safe return. And Colonel: I need to know how you plan to move the stargate into a position where it will be found."

"Yes sir!"O'Neill and Carter strode purposefully out of the room just as the medics arrived to care for the Élodies.

To be continued…


	2. Headaches

Title: Past Legacy

Author: Albi

Disclaimer: None of it's mine - I am a merciless borrower of the characters belonging to Gekko and MGM

Spoilers: Not really, certaintly nothing past season 7

Summary: This is part two - SG1 is on a mission in the past to ensure the very existence of their programme

Rating: PG-13 I think... dunno US ratings

Thank you again to Karibou who, despite illness striking her entire family and an insanely busy schedule of her own, took the time to go through this and give me invaluable feedback!

Chapter 2

Gateroom, SGC

"Chevron 4 encoded!" The sergeant's voice boomed through the loudspeaker system.

SG1 was assembled at the base of the gate ramp with the younger Elodie Chabrol, who was leaning slightly on Daniel's shoulder. O'Neill looked across to the French woman, grimacing as he thought of the mission ahead. They had very few details that could be useful for their adventure; the elderly Elodie had not regained consciousness since the two women were struck by seizures. If he didn't know better, O'Neill would even think she had taken the brunt of whatever malaise had overcome them both to allow her younger self to depart with more ease.

He looked over to Teal'c, who looked decidedly uncomfortable in the 1930s clothing. Not that the big man had ever felt comfortable in his SGC uniform – the man was simply so big – but he looked vaguely humiliated wearing the beige suit that had been given to him. With a sigh O'Neill looked down to his own clothes. Suits had never been his favourite type of clothes – he was much happier in casual clothes or fatigues – but in the thirties they had just been so damned uncomfortable! Stiff matierial that scratched at the skin, stupid thin ties. At least he didn't have to wear what Carter did. He looked over to her, and again had to stifle a grin: she was at least able to wear pants and not a dress, but the cut was possibly the most unflattering ever designed for a woman… funny how she still looked amazing.

Carter turned towards her commanding officer, surprised to see his eyes trained on hers as if he were memorising every detail if her body. She raised an eyebrow, challenging him to comment on her ridiculous outfit, and was satisfied to see his face go red in embarrassment before averting his eyes.

"Chevron 7 locked!" The stargate burst into activity.

"Good luck to you all SG1," General Hammond spoke into the microphone in the control room. "And well done again Major Carter – the speed of your calculations have probably saved both Madame Chabrols."

Carter and O'Neill saluted the general in recognition and turned towards the gate. Sam had indeed been lucky to successfully predict the exact time and destination required to end up in Élodie Chabrol's time. There was of course a chance they would be off by a couple of hours, but then they had a rather large window of time to get the stargate into north-east France – or western Germany if possible.

"Major Carter!" The elder Élodie appeared at the entrance to the gateroom. "A word before you go?"

Motioning at the others to depart without her, Carter quickly retreated to the doorway to listen to the woman. The latter leaned in closely.

"Just a word of advice from an old woman who knows many things," the lady whispered into Carter's ear, "don't let love pass you by – he feels the same way you do."

Carter was frozen still, gaping at the old woman; she was all-but pushed through the stargate by Mme Chabrol, and arrived on the other side in such a state of shock that O'Neill rushed to her side.

Unknown warehouse

"Carter? You ok? What did she say?"

Carter's mouth opened and shut mechanically without any sound coming out. O'Neill recognised the action and grinned slightly with comprehension. His eyes twinkled as he took Carter by the hand and led her down the small ramp that was on the other side of the gate.

"So she gave you 'that' message did she?" His mouth formed an enormous smile at the horror that replaced shock on her face. "Relax Carter, she told me to get busy too… we'll just have to see what happens, eh?"

Nodding numbly Carter nonetheless withdrew her hand from O'Neill's, wary of crossing the line forbidden to them by their collective career choices. She directed her attention to her surroundings and was rather stunned to see that there was no-one guarding the gate from this end.

"Élodie," she stood and took a couple of steps into the large space, "I thought you said the gate was well guarded at this end."

"It was," the French woman was approaching a line of windows at the far end, "I don't understand. Maybe something important is happening outside – are you sure you got the correct date?"

At that moment Teal'c and Daniel appeared from behind some large crates stacked up next to the stargate.

"It appears we may have a problem, Major Carter," Teal'c spoke with predictable calm. "The DHD is nowhere to be found."

Carter swung around and realised with a sigh that Teal'c was right, it had been separated from the stargate. Although the DHD was found separately to the stargate, it was even further east than the gate had been in 1945. It could be left to chance that it would be found there, but SG1 still faced the problem of hooking enough power up to the stargate to make it function.

"I'm sorry Sam but that's not all." Daniel spoke up this time, a look of resignation on his face. "I managed to get a radio signal; I think we're in Spain proper – and if I understood the broadcast correctly, it's now November 1937."

Élodie gasped at this piece of news; her knees became shaky and Carter had to rush over to stop her from falling.

"_C'est pas vrai, c'est pas vrai,"_ she whimpered to herself. "_Ils ont gagné – tout est perdu. La démocratie n'est plus – la France n'est plus!"_

Élodie collapsed to the ground, body heaving with her anguish. Carter tried to reassure her in vain.

"Carter?" O'Neill looked to her for a translation

"She thinks all is lost sir," Carter turned to her superior while still comforting Élodie, "she's assuming that France has already lost the 'war against fascism.'" Turning back to the trembling woman she reassured her. "_Je suis sûre que tout va bien,_ I'm sure it's ok – war doesn't begin between France and Germany until 1939, and Spain remains neutral." The team had decided to tell Élodie as little as possible about her future, primarily for fear that she would collapse.

The woman stopped suddenly, her eyes wide with shock, disbelief, and a sense of betrayal. She couldn't understand why people hadn't told her about the war – with prior knowledge of this sort she could prevent the carnage that is supposed to follow.

"_Donc vous saviez tout le temps?_ So you knew all along?" Sparks of anger began to flash into her eyes. "I can't believe this! My country is going to be embroiled in a war against the worst of all fascists and you thought you'd just keep this from me!"

"Of course not," soothed Carter. "We were going to have to tell you. Our plan for the stargate insists that we do so… we just had to get through the stargate as soon as possible – you wouldn't have survived otherwise."

Carter looked from the distraught French woman to Daniel, who nodded, and then to her superior officer. Her eyes implored him, willing him to understand that they had to tell Élodie of the plan, and of her future, if nothing else, to ensure her survival throughout the bloody conflict.

O'Neill looked at Carter, torn as to what he should do. He didn't want to change the course of history unnecessarily but seeing the pain in Élodie's eyes he had to agree with the silent communication coming from Carter. He always understood her looks completely, as she did his. In knowing this, he gave her a small nod and pulled away to explore their surroundings, motioning to Teal'c to follow.

Carter let out a sigh and sat more comfortably on the ground next to Élodie. Daniel joined them and they began to fill the French woman in. After they had finished their recital of events, it took a great deal of time for Élodie to speak. Daniel looked to Sam, concern in his eyes; perhaps they had overdone it in telling the young woman of the fate that waited her people.

Carter had tears in her eyes as she looked back to Daniel. War had always upset her. She wasn't one of those people who could watch a big Hollywood war movie – she could never get past the fact that although the images depicted actors in the field, the events had more or less actually occurred, and millions were dead as a result. Anger began to rise within her as she thought of the pure evil that was behind in particular the Second World War – as much as she would like to search out Hitler and beat him to a pulp before pulling the trigger, she knew that this would irreparably change history, for better or worse. It was the 'worse' part that she dreaded – who's to say that someone else wouldn't take his place and lead the German army into battle with even more dire consequences than were to occur?

"Élodie?" She tentatively touched her arm in an effort to bring her back from within herself. "Are you ok?"

"I.. can't.. believe.. you're.. going.. to.. let.. this.. happen." The French woman spat the words out with disgust. "To kill so many just for their religion; to enslave the French people within the doctrines of fascism…" She could no longer speak, heart-wrenching sobs taking over her body.

"I know Élodie," Daniel interjected, moving closer to her and taking her in his arms. "Knowing as we do the consequences of this war to come, I know Sam and I both would love to use this mission to rid the world of the danger that approaches." He continued as Élodie's sobs subsided slightly, listening to what he had to say. "The problem is, we don't know what would happen in that altered future. It's possible it may be better, but the crisis in international politics is so great in your time, we can't be sure that our actions would prevent the genocide – we just don't know." The woman in his arms stiffened in disagreement. "What we do know is that in our future, we have to fight the Goa'uld – and we would have no chance of winning without the knowledge and technology that we have gained through the stargate."

He paused and looked to Carter for help, just as anguished as she was at the thought of letting the war happen. As a civilian his pain was possibly greater, as he didn't share the same duty-bound philosophy as the Air Force major did. He saw all war as being disgusting – albeit necessary against the true evil of the Goa'uld.

"He's right, as difficult as it may be." Her voice was shaky with distress. "We have seen into alternate realities, and as far as we can tell, ours is only one of a few where Earth is winning the war against the Goa'uld. Elsewhere the people of Earth are either enslaved or dead. As much as the death of the 6 million Jews and countless others pains me, I have to think of my present, where we're trying to save 6 BILLION." She let those words sink into Élodie before continuing. "Can you understand? We will help all we can to ensure your safety and that of as many French people – you can encourage an evacuation towards the non-occupied south before the war begins. But we can't alter the overall course of history; and we can't allow the stargate to remain in French hands." Carter almost smiled at the indignant response this last comment warranted. "I'm sure you'd do a great job if it were up to you to control the stargate, however we can't change our future – it's too dangerous."

At that moment Teal'c came running towards them, O'Neill not far behind him. Fear was emanating from both their expressions, and soon Daniel and Carter saw the cause: there were as many as 20 men chasing them, wearing gas masks.

"We need to get out of here, NOW!" O'Neill screamed at the others motioning to the door on the other side of the warehouse. At that moment, however, a grenade exploded between the two halves of SG1 and a thick gas spread out, overcoming the five people until they were unconscious.

Unknown room 1

Élodie opened her eyes and looked around her in vain; the room was so dark she couldn't even make out any vague shapes.

"Samantha? Daniel?" She had trouble speaking, her throat dry and coarse. "Colonel? Teal'c?" She almost hoped the Jaffa wasn't there – although she knew he was her friend, it was hard to trust the overbearing alien.

There was no answer from anyone. Conducting a quick search of the space, arms outstretched, she ascertained that she was alone. Her captors must have recognized her and thus separated her from her saviours. Overcome with the hopelessness of her situation, she collapsed in the corner and wept silently.

Unknown room 2

Teal'c was the first to regain consciousness, and sat up abruptly, pausing to listen at his surroundings for a sign of danger. His training as a Jaffa warrior had taught him to pay attention to all his senses, and not rely on his sight was much as his other team members. Hearing the sounds of one person breathing deeply, as if asleep, he shuffled slowly in that direction across the floor. Holding his hand out, he reached to their face and felt glasses.

"Daniel Jackson," he spoke sharply in order to wake the archaeologist. "Are you alright?"

Daniel grabbed his head as the Jaffa's words wrenched him into consciousness.

"Arghh! My head." He tried to lift himself into a seated position but was forced to lie down by the pounding in his skull.

"I am sorry if you are feeling pain, Daniel Jackson." Teal'c lowered his voice somewhat in an attempt not to further cause Daniel pain. "It appears as if we have been separated from the others while unconscious."

Daniel sat up and retched with the wave of nausea that overcame him. He looked towards where he thought Teal'c was, not being able to actually see him. Realising they were at the mercy of his captors, he shuffled back against the wall – soon to be joined by Teal'c – and waited.

Unknown room 3

Carter shifted uncomfortably on the hard, uneven ground she was lying on. Instinctively placing her hand on her head she groaned with the pain, wondering where on Earth she was. Opening her eyes with difficulty she saw nothing, the darkness denying her of conducting an assessment of the containment space. Just as she was about to lift herself off the ground to explore, she stiffened and froze; there was a hand placed on her breast. Reaching across with a shaking hand, she touched a coarse face, stubble sprouting, strong features, short bristly hair. She relaxed slightly, relieved that she knew the owner of the errant hand. She chuckled to herself in realisation of her situation and cleared her parched throat.

"Uh, sir?" She whispered, not wanting to exacerbate the headache O'Neill probably had. She felt his fingers move slightly and shivered unconsciously at the sensation.

"Hmmph." O'Neill's response was typical.

"Sir, I don't know what Madame Chabrol told you back in the SGC, but I think it's a bit presumptuous of you to have your hand where it is."

She felt an abrupt movement of the Colonel raising his head off the ground, accompanied by a growl of discomfort.

"Shit. Sorry Carter, he pulled his hand away. "Although I will plead that I was unconscious, and am obviously suffering from one hell of a head injury at the moment. What the hell happened?"

"Well apparently _sir,_" she emphasised the last word, more as a reminder to herself than anything else, "we were gassed and then separated – you and me locked in this dank room. What did you and Teal'c find before the attack?"

Groaning as he sat upright, despite the protestations of his headache, O'Neill turned towards Carter's voice.

"Not a lot. We got to the door and saw a bunch of militia guys standing outside. One of them saw me and they all came a-running." He paused, remembering the French woman. "How did you and Daniel go talking to Élodie? She ready to kill us?"

"She was understandably upset but I think she'll understand that we're doing the only thing we can." Carter tried to lift herself up, but gasped at a shooting pain that appeared in her side.

O'Neill heard her gasp and instantly moved closer to help her, knocking his hand against her head in the darkness.

"You ok? Did they hurt you?" He felt his way to where her hand was, clutching at her side. "Let me feel." He paused. "That came out kinda dodgy, but let me do it anyway; you might have sustained a broken rib or two."

Carter giggled at her commanding officer's touchy-feely demand.

"Don't make me laugh sir," she gasped again as she breathed in, the pain shooting up her side. "I think it's just bruising but it still hurts." She lifted her top slightly and felt the warm gooeyness of blood. "Ah damn, I'm bleeding somehow."

O'Neill ran his fingers along her skin and felt the cut.

"It's not a deep cut, but the pain is probably from bruising – you must have fallen awkwardly when we were KO'd. You're really in the wars these couple of days huh?" He manoeuvred himself closer to her, leaning her head on his leg. He got a handkerchief out of his pocket and placed it on the wound to stop the bleeding.

"You carry a handkerchief sir?" Carter smiled at this. "I wouldn't have thought you'd be so – traditional."

O'Neill sensed the playfulness in her voice and chuckled himself, glad to see that Carter was obviously not that seriously injured.

"What can I say Sam," he emphasised her first name, tongue-in-cheek, "I'm just an old-fashioned guy."

He fished an adhesive bandage out of one of his many pockets and placed it over the cut. Chancing the glare he knew he'd get from Carter, but thankfully would not be able to see, he placed a light kiss on the bandage once in place.

"There you go," his grin was audible in his voice. "All better!"

Carter rolled her eyes. Then, aware that he couldn't see this action, spoke out in what she hoped was a reproachful tone.

"Sir, there's no need to mollycoddle me – I'm a big girl now."

"That you are Carter," came the reply, "that you are. Now rest while I try to think of a way outta here."

Carter relaxed, her head comfortable on its O'Neill pillow.

Rebel military base, north-west Spain, outside

Élodie was on her knees, her hands on her head, at the mercy of her captors. Her eyes darted around her, trying to recognise her surroundings in vain. The man in front of her, his gun trained to her head, spoke in heavily accented French.

"Answer me!" He growled, advancing on her with a menacing glare. "How did you get in contact with the Americans!"

Élodie trembled on the spot, unable to speak, even if she had wanted to reveal anything of the only people who could help her. The man approached yet closer to her until the barrel of his gun was pressing against her temple, his stinking breath bearing down on her face.

"_ANSWER ME!"_ He roared. "I will have them all shot unless you tell me of their purpose!"

Thinking quickly, Élodie decided to play dumb.

"I… I don't know where they came from!" She quavered. "I escaped from you and tried to get to Paris for help only to be captured by them. They knew all about the st-, the great ring, and forced me to take them to it."

"So how did they know we were at San Sebastiàn!" the man's eyes were bulging, the veins in his neck sticking out. "We were in Biarritz when you escaped!"

Élodie cursed to herself, she had forgotten about the time that had elapsed since her departure; at least now she knew their location.

"I have no idea," she pleaded, her eyes wide with fear. "When the device wasn't in Biarritz, they used some strange machines to track it – I've never seen such gadgets." The statement wasn't entirely untrue, when she thought about it.

Triumph flashed over the man's expression, he released the grip on his gun slightly and took a more relaxed stance.

"Then they knew of the device." He pressed the barrel of the gun harder into her head as she refused to acknowledge his words. "They know how it functions!" Excitement showed in his eyes.

Élodie glanced up to the man, unable to hide the expression from her face, betraying her wishes to reveal nothing. In that expression the militia man knew he had hit on the truth. Triumphant, he motioned to one of his lackeys to approach and addressed him in Spanish.

"Take her into the mountains and dispose of her! Prepare the Americans for transport to the main base; we leave immediately!"

With that he spat at the ground in front of Élodie and began to laugh manically.

"The day will soon come when the red danger is eliminated, unfortunately you will not live to see it. Goodbye."

Spain, unknown highway

Carter fumed quietly, forced to sit still between the two terrorists clasping her arms so tightly she could feel her blood pounding, already forming bruises. Her hands and feet were bound, and she was gagged with a dirty handkerchief that brought on persistent waves of nausea. The heat in the van was stifling and the two men had obviously not washed in the recent past, making the nausea increasingly difficult to bear. They were laughing together, speaking volumes of what she assumed to be Spanish, while looking constantly towards their captive.

Each syllable, no matter how incomprehensible, only fuelled her rage. Her fists were clenched so tightly that her knuckles were white, and she felt as if her fingernails would break the skin and cause her hands to start bleeding. She would have welcomed the injury as a way of distracting herself from the intense rage that was boiling within her, causing her chest to ache and threatening to force tears down her cheeks.

There was a shuffling sound behind the three people in the van. If it was even possible, Carter's rage mounted to an unprecedented level. O'Neill was bound and gagged in the back of the truck, obviously rolling around with the erratic driving of their captors. She hated to think of the state she would find him in when they reached their destination – if she even saw him again. Her rage subsided slightly as pain and apprehension took over; her heart was positively throbbing inside her chest at the thought of not seeing her commanding officer again. This time there was no stopping a lone tear from rolling down her cheek, a detail that did not escape the barbarians squashing her between them. She heard them leer at her, saying something about being 'very sad' in Spanish before they both leant in towards her, breathing unevenly.

Unable to contain herself, Carter screamed out in frustration through her wretched gag of a handkerchief and strained against everything binding her in place. She heard a similar scream emanating from the back of the truck, which may or may not have been a stifled "Sam!" from O'Neill. She stopped her resistance upon hearing this noise, there was no point in worrying him when he couldn't see what was happening. She would just have to clamp down in her current position and not give anything to her captors. Resigned to the injustice of the situation, Carter sank back into her position, steeling herself for whatever they could throw her way – her outburst would have to wait until she could do them some serious bodily harm.

In order to distract herself, Carter concentrated on her surroundings. Being the only woman may have made her a target for these terrorists, but riding up front between two potential assailants gave away many clues as to where they were going. As far as she could tell, they were in northern Spain, still very close to the border, in Basque country. From the road signs, she surmised they were headed towards Pamplona, a city inland but still near the foot of the Pyrenées; the mountain range that separated France from Spain. The van she was in was, in fact, following another, identical vehicle. Carter prayed the others were in there. As for the stargate, she could not see how they would be transporting it at the same time, there was no other truck ahead of or behind them; it would perhaps be necessary to return to fetch it afterwards.

The transport of the stargate was going to be the paramount problem; had they still been in France it wouldn't have been too difficult for Élodie to persuade some of her contacts in the government to provide them with army transport vehicles. In Spain, however, the situation was remarkably more complicated. Even if they managed to secure aid from the embattled Spanish Popular Front government, the north-west of Spain was by no means under government control. Carter sighed inwardly and bristled in her cramped space.

The difficulty of the situation weighed on her as she was tossed from side to side by the constant bouncing of the van in various potholes. Hearing a muffled 'thump' accompanied by a groan from the back of the van, she forced herself to believe – SG1 had escaped much more dire circumstances in one piece. She damned well wasn't going to break that record now.

Lower Pyrenéen mountains, Basque Country

Élodie trudged dejectedly in front of the soldier charged with her 'disposal'. They had been walking for almost an hour now and she couldn't fathom why he wouldn't just kill her. Every now and then she looked back to him, considering making a run for it. But what would she do? She had none of the gadgets that Daniel had given her – the communicating device, the weapons – they had all been taken. She didn't even know where the rebels were taking her would-be saviours.

They reached a fast-moving deep creek, at which point her executioner motioned for her to stop. He put his finger to his lips and craned his neck in all directions, listening for something. He didn't seem to hear anything and, relieved at this, fired three shots over Élodie's head. He then took her hand in his and sliced a shallow cut in the palm; just enough to make it bleed. He held her hand over the edge of the creek, letting the blood fall both in the water and on the shore.

Élodie's mouth gaped as she watched him work quickly and efficiently, retrieving both her radio and gun out of his pockets and handing them to her. She didn't know what to say or do, unwilling to believe that someone may actually be helping her. In halting French the soldier finally spoke.

"We did not know where you had gone, Madame Chabrol. We feared you had been killed. The Frente Popular hopes your friends will be able to help our cause; the best we can do to help this far north is keep abreast of the activities of the insurgents, and free those held hostage. "

Tears of relief ran down Élodie's cheeks, the soldier was an agent for the Spanish Government. The war was not yet over. All was not yet lost.

"My colleague will try to free your friends, they are being taken to Pamplona. I fear you must not wait for them, but continue into the mountains back into France, it is the wise thing to do."

Élodie nodded dumbly, not wanting to incur disapproval in her saviour by insisting on returning to the stargate. She would have to wait a day or so before moving anyway, otherwise she would surely be caught.

"The men will come looking for your body to ensure I have done my job. I will lead them to this spot and they will assume your body has washed away. Do not be here when we come."

The soldier turned away from her and trudged down the hill through the trees. Before long, the only sound Élodie could hear was that of the rushing water behind her. Snapping out of her stunned condition, she moved upstream along the creek to find a hiding place.

Containment cell, main militia base, Pamplona

O'Neill brushed his fingers along Carter's cheek, feeling a strange sense of déjà vu. Yet again she was unconscious and injured, her body propped up on his own for support. Her injuries didn't look too serious, but she had definitely been knocked around by the animals who had transported them the day before. Not that he was in a particularly fit state either; he didn't think his body had ever had quite this many bruises – he resolved to never again travel in a car without putting his seatbelt on first.

The room they were being kept in was gloomy, and yet not completely without light. There was a small window in the rustic clay walls, up way too high for O'Neill tor each; maybe if Carter was awake they could reach it together. He looked back to the woman cradled in his arms, his chest aching at the thought of what could have happened to her. He had seen the hungry look in the eyes of the men who took her away before locking him in the back of the van. At one point he'd heard her scream and hadn't been able to contain a holler of his own in protest. Every pothole on the badly-maintained road may have inflicted another bruise on him, but he couldn't feel them, so intent was he on trying to listen to the events taking place in the front. His steely resolve had been increasingly enraged by the thought of those men even breathing in Carter's direction.

When the militia had placed them both in the cell and removed their blindfolds, O'Neill had immediately moved towards Carter. Seeing that she was unconscious, he yelled an assortment of expletives at their captors before doing a preliminary examination of his colleague. Her clothes were ruffled in a way that caused dread to rise up within him.

Carter moved slightly as she lay on his lap. Her eyes flew open and before he could reassure her she leaped up and pressed herself against the far wall, shouting at him to get away.

"Sam it's ok." O'Neill didn't move, for fear of startling her further. "They're gone, they can't hurt you now. It's just you and me."

He heard her breathing calm somewhat and edged towards her, stopping when he was directly in front of her, although still a metre away

"Are you ok?" He reached out tentatively and touched her foot, a small form of contact to test her state of nerves. She flinched but didn't recoil further.

Looking into her clear eyes, O'Neill tried with all his might to transmit his feelings of concern and reassurance all at once. He saw her expression change from raw fear to relief as her whole body seemed to collapse into itself. Quickly he moved to her side and took her in his arms.

"Hey, good to see you're back with us." She was clinging to him now, tears brimming in her eyes. "I swear we'll get them for what they've done, I won't let up 'til they've paid for it – dearly. I'm so sorry I couldn't stop them – I saw the way they were looking at you-" he broke off, wincing with the pain it caused him to think of anyone taking advantage of Carter like that.

Carter raised her head, somewhat surprised. She searched his eyes and realised what he was assuming. Almost giddy with embarrassment she straightened herself up.

"It's ok sir." Her voice was not yet sounding clear, but it was comprehensible all the same. "They didn't do that… they were violent – I thought they might – but they didn't."

"Then what-?" O'Neill began

"I… I…" Carter looked into her superior officer's eyes. "They told me you had died in the back of the van on our trip here." She looked into his eyes, willing herself to believe he was really there. "They said you, Teal'c, Daniel and Elodie were all dead… that they wanted to give me a last chance to live, but when I wouldn't reveal who we were or what we were doing at the stargate, they…" she winced, remembering the pain, "they beat me unconscious. I thought you were dead, Jack."

Carter let her head drop between her knees, almost sick with the shock that she had just got. She felt his hand reach out and touch her cheek, catching the tear that was slowly progressing downwards. He cupped her chin and directed her face towards him.

"Are you ok?" He felt her try to retreat from him, but didn't let her, cupping her face now with both hands. "Sam? Are you?"

"I'm fine sir," she struggled to control the pitch of her voice.

O'Neill let an exasperated breath out, still with the 'sir's

"Hey it's ok, you can drop the 'sir'" he smiled at her warmly. "I think given that we can't do anything for the moment, we can just be ourselves, yeah? Now come 'ere – god knows I'd want to hold you and never let go if I the situation were reversed."

Sam hesitated, she knew what the older Élodie had said, but she was still wary of crossing that line. Before she knew it he had gently pulled her towards him and enveloped her in his arms. She felt his lips brush against her forehead and looked up, her nose almost touching his, their eyes locked. He closed the distance between them and kissed her lightly before pulling away slightly to gauge her reaction.

"I.. I don't think this is a good idea." She whispered, struggling to hold her composure. "Apart from anything else, our mission-"

"Yeah – it'd be nice if just for once things went according to plan wouldn't it?" He grinned and rested his forehead against hers. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

"No sir – I mean Jack – it's ok," she fumbled for words. "I… I… I don't know…" the next sentence came out before she could stop it. "What did Élodie tell you back at the SGC?"

She looked into his brown eyes, afraid of how he might reply. She saw him consider his options; afraid he wasn't going to talk about it. She opened her mouth to take back the question when he spoke.

"She told me not to deny my feelings." His voice was almost at a whisper, he pulled away from her slightly and averted his eyes. "She… she told me that difficult does not mean impossible." His voice was now barely audible. "She told me you feel the same way."

Carter realised she had been holding her breath and exhaled slowly. She looked at O'Neill and realised he still wouldn't look at her. She reached up and directed his head to look directly at her.

"She told me the same thing." Their eyes were locked, their faced just inches apart, frozen in a silent conversation. "And she was right."

This time it was Sam who closed the distance between them; this time their lips met and remained together in a slow, heartfelt kiss. Eventually she nestled her head in his chest and felt his chin settle in her hair.

"So she was right…" O'Neill smiled and looked down at Sam before settling again in their neat embrace.

"Maybe we should wait until we've saved our future, '_sir_?'" She grinned even though he couldn't see her face.

"Party pooper," came the curt reply.

The two of them relaxed, leaning against the wall; both their minds again considering the mammoth task ahead of them.

Main militia base, Pamplona

"_MOVE!"_ Four men had their guns trained on Teal'c and Daniel, who were reluctantly following orders.

Daniel looked to Teal'c, who characteristically raised an eyebrow before continuing towards the clay hut ahead of them. Their movement puzzled him. So far he had led their captors to believe that he didn't understand Spanish, but even knowing what they had said he was still at a loss. At least he knew Jack and Sam were ok, but the exchange had still been hard to follow: "_Antonio wants them kept together, he wants to interrogate them all as a group, alone,_" One soldier had said. The other had seemed vehemently opposed to this: "_I don't know. Have you noticed him acting strangely? I think we should keep them apart – we don't want them to be able to plot against us."_ The first soldier had become angry at this spoke to fast that Daniel couldn't understand, the gist of it indicated the second soldier was being reminded of his responsibilities and loyalty. This window into the internal politics of the Spanish resistance puzzled him. The best explanation he could fathom gave him hope – tensions within the movement could play to SG1's advantage.

With another shove in their backs, Teal'c and Daniel were forced into the hut, the door slamming behind them. Letting their eyes adjust to the gloomy space, their gaze fell upon the two other members of SG1, who appeared to be asleep in a rather compromising position. Teal'c looked to Daniel, eyebrow approaching the top of his head. Daniel looked back to him and started giggling.

"What is so amusing Daniel Jackson?" Teal'c looked from the sleeping pair to Daniel, failing to see the connection.

Daniel gasped for breath, unable to stop laughing long enough to speak. He sank to the floor, almost giddy with his inappropriate outburst. Finally composing himself, he turned to Teal'c

"Nothing's really funny." He was speaking with an irregular rhythm, still fighting off the giggles. "Here we were thinking they're dead, injured, lost, god knows what – and they're quietly sleeping in each others' arms, as if they're on some retreat! They've known each other for over five years and they wait until NOW to get together!"

At this point both Carter and O'Neill began to stir. Sam sighed contentedly as she woke up, sensing the strong arms keeping her warm. She felt Jack place a light kiss on her ear, and smiled to herself – they should have done this a long time ago, it made being incarcerated a lot easier to deal with.

They registered the fact that they were no longer alone in their cell at the same time. Slowly opening their eyes, they then quickly disentangled themselves and shot apart at such speed that Daniel could no longer contain his amusement and began laughing again. Even Teal'c appeared to be genuinely amused by the scene before him.

"Relax guys," Daniel spluttered the word in between giggles. "We've already been here a couple of minutes – you make a cute couple."

At a loss for words, Daniel looked to Teal'c for help.

"Indeed O'Neill, Major Carter, it gives both myself and Daniel Jackson great pleasure to see you safe and well." His words brought Daniel down to Earth.

"Yeah, we had no idea if you guys were ok!" Seeing the still shocked looks on the soldiers' faces, he hurried to reassure them. "Hey, guys, whatever's going on, we're happy for you, k?" He looked at them earnestly, willing them to finally accept their feelings for each other.

Sam looked to her commanding officer, letting him make the decision – she was afraid to speak for both of them, should he have changed his mind. She knew she wasn't really ready to admit her feelings to other people considering she hadn't really admitted them to herself, let alone the man now sitting next to her.

"Hey Daniel!" O'Neill was characteristically upbeat, ignoring what had just happened. "The evil army-men told Carter you were dead." He looked to Sam. "Your guys really had their facts wrong eh? We're all fine – this mission's looking up!"

"Umm Jack?" Daniel interrupted, trying in vain to bring the situation into order. "We have no idea where Élodie is at the moment, and no idea where we are or where the stargate is."

"Ah." Jack blinked towards the rest of the team. "Well… maybe not then."

At this moment one Antonio Martinez entered the cell, flanked by yet two more anonymous militia soldier. He was tall, his hair almost black and his skin tanned only like a native Mediterranean's skin could be. He looked to the Americans inside and sighed. How on earth did people expect him to counter-act against the military insurgency from within if they didn't alert him of their plans? To release the prisoners risked to compromise his position…

The four of them had frozen upon his appearance in the doorway, more from the shock in reaction to the sunlight now streaming into the room than anything else. They instinctively moved closer together, the large one with the strange marking on his head remaining on his feet, as if he were protecting the others.

"Do you speak Spanish? French?" he asked in halting English

"Two of us speak French," Daniel replied in that language. "We can translate for the others."

Antonio turned towards the guards who had accompanied and motioned for them to leave, growling in discontent when they hesitated. With them gone her crouched on the ground in front of the prisoners and looked at them, unable to believe what he was about to do.

"I don't know how you came to be here, or even where you really come from – are you really American? My men in San Sebastiàn found some very intriguing gadgets on your persons." He paused, gauging their reaction. To their credit there was none. "My name is Antonio Martinez, known to your friend Élodie as Antoine. I work on the behalf of Léon Blum and others who abhor fascism."

Carter's mouth dropped open – they were being held by a friendly force! She looked to O'Neill and saw he had no idea of the significance of this revelation.

"Colonel," she had returned to referring to him by rank, now in business mode. "Léon Blum was the Premier of Popular Front France. If he's who he says he is, then we're on the same side."

"Well great!" He turned towards Antonio. "So give us our stuff, lead us to Élodie and let us all go on our merry, merry way."

O'Neill began to get up off the ground, brushing the dust of his clothes, almost businesslike in his demeanour.

"No!" Antonio reached out to stop Jack from moving. "It is not that simple. Almost all the men in this facility are loyal to Franco. I have convinced them of my loyalty and do all I can to thwart their intentions. Your arrival puts me in a VERY awkward position!"

"Ah… right." O'Neill leaned back against the wall, having Antonio's words translated. "Well we've still got a problem then."

Antonio sighed heavily and sat on the ground opposite the Americans. He knew he was not going to please them with what he had to say next.

"About Élodie…" he braced himself, the pain audible in this voice. "She was not transferred here. I have some officers loyal to the true cause of democracy at San Sebastiàn, but I can't be sure of her fate. In all likelihood she is dead."

Daniel closed his eyes, his heart sinking. He heard Jack let out a long breath as Sam told him what Antonio had said. They looked to each other, the despair evident in their eyes.

"If Élodie Chabrol no longer lives, then we have already failed, O'Neill." Teal'c kept his eyes on Antonio, always ready to react at the sign of danger.

"Mr Martinez," Daniel addressed their captor. "We are here on a very important mission, so urgent that there wasn't time to inform yourself of its purpose. The st-, the great ring that was taken from Élodie must be returned to France and transported to the German border." His eyes pleaded the tall man standing in front of him. "It is our last chance."

Not wanting to alarm the Spanish man, Daniel left out the exact details of their mission. Should he know the gate actually needed to be found by an all-powerful Nazi force that would essentially enslave the French people for 4 years, they would certainly not be able to count on receiving his support. He daren't take his eyes off Antonio, willing him to help.

"I… I fear I cannot give you the great ring." Antonio's eyes darted from Daniel to Carter, considering his options. "It would expose me for what I am and that would put our cause into peril." He paused to gather his thoughts. "It is possible that I can ensure your escape, and organise for a truck to be left abandoned. It will be difficult, but there is no more that I can do – although I will send word to my most trusted aide in San Sebastiàn, Juan. Your fate thereafter will be out of my control."

O'Neill considered this offer, unsure as to whether he should trust the foreign man sitting in front of him. He looked to Carter for support.

"Well," she said quietly, "even if he's setting us up for something it's our best chance – we'd just be trying to escape anyway."

"I concur with Major Carter's analysis, O'Neill." The latter's head snapped up to look at Teal'c. "If we are to complete this mission we must accept this man's offer."

Finally O'Neill looked to Daniel, who nodded curtly in his direction. Then, turning to Antonio he nodded and smiled with thanks.

"So tell us what we need to do."

To be continued…


	3. The Cagoule

_A/N: To anyone who's reading this far, either having just started the whole story or having read the other chapters ages ago - this has been written for a while but my life is INSANE and so getting time even to update is an issue. I promise the next part is written and ready to go (it's just on a different computer so I can't post now). And I know exactly where the story is going so you won't all be forgotten! Please read and review!_

Containment cell, main militia base, Pamplona

Daniel looked to O'Neill with hope; there was a genuine disturbance outside their prison hut, which seemed to suggest that the first part of their escape plan had begun. He couldn't fathom the risk that Antonio had taken to ensure their release. It was evident that he held a lot of esteem for Élodie, otherwise there's no way he would trust strangers like SG1. There was a crash outside the hut, and a general distress announcement resonated from one of the soldiers – the Spanish Republican forces had found the insurgents' camp and were attacking. Again he was amazed that Antonio would endanger the lives of those under his commands, but that didn't stop him being grateful.

O'Neill returned Daniel's gaze, nodding with approval. He got up from the floor and moved towards the door, motioning for the others to follow. The door to the hut opened abruptly, a soldier appearing before them, declaring in Spanish that they had been freed from the clutches of Franco's fascist army. No-one in the prison cell understood what the man had just said, but nodded in thanks anyway, exiting the building. Skirting around the edge of the hut, O'Neill stopped briefly, taking in the scene before him: he knew his team was the cause of this violent outbreak, and that made his stomach churn. He looked to Teal'c and saw even the Jaffa was distressed by the scene; although he remained focussed on the task at hand.

"We should continue moving while these people are distracted." He announced in an almost nonchalant tone of voice. "We cannot afford to let this opportunity go to waste; otherwise their sacrifices will hold no worth"

"Teal'c's right sir," Carter winced slightly as she moved, her bruised muscles complaining. "The truck Antonio's organised for us isn't exactly close-by – it'll take us a couple of hours to get there."

O'Neill looked towards Carter, concerned at her expression of pain as she moved. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the guys who had transported them to Pamplona, fighting against some loyal Republican fighters. Motioning for the rest of his team to continue, he turned towards the fighting men and prepared himself to give them a well-deserved lesson.

"Jack, don't!"He whirled around quickly at Carter's touch, looking into her anguished eyes. "It's not worth it, they really don't matter."

"Jeez Carter,"he raised his hands in frustration, "you don't know how much it PISSES ME OFF that someone would even THINK of taking advantage of you!"

Sam looked at her commanding officer, her pain subsiding at the sight of him trying to help, even if it was slightly patronising of him to do so.

"I can take care of myself – and I did, ok?" She pulled him towards the trees where Teal'c and Daniel had disappeared. "Let's just go."

The two of them ran to catch up to the others, just as the two men responsible for transporting them the previous day fell to the ground, shot by the Republican forces. O'Neill turned his head just before disappearing into the trees. A satisfied smile crept onto his lips despite himself as he saw the two men fall.

Forest, outside Pamplona

"We've got it Jack – over here!"Daniel motioned to the others to follow him through yet another line of trees.

A 'couple of hours' had become a somewhat longer due to the difficult terrain in the area; they were at the foot of the Pyrenean Mountains, after all. Daniel watched the three of them come out into the clearing that was slightly shielded from the road. There was a somewhat dilapidated army truck sitting there, waiting for them.

"This vehicle will not be adequate to transport the stargate, O'Neill." Teal'c looked concerned at the prospect of driving such a primitive-looking truck.

"Yeah well it'll have to do Teal'c."O'Neill rubbed his hand along his chin, considering their options. "It'll at least get us to San-whatever-the-town-is. Then we can figure out what to do."

He looked towards Carter, who appeared more and more exhausted. She always underplayed the extent of any injury she sustained and he knew it.

"Ok."O'Neill puffed his chest up slightly and looked around before announcing the next move to the others. "Teal'c you're with me – I'm driving. Carter, you need to rest."He cut her off before she could object. "That's an order Major; you're in the back with Daniel."

With those words he climbed into the truck and started the engine. Once everyone else was in, and with some difficulty (the stick-shift of a 1930s truck is no easy task), he set off in what he hoped was the direction of San Sebastiàn.

Between Pamplona and San Sebastiàn

Daniel sat against the wall of the truck, trying his best to brace himself – and Sam – against the unpredictable jolts that Jack's driving entailed. Every now and then he heard a "Sorry!" coming from the front of the truck, accompanied by a particularly large jump, only possibly caused by an actual pothole. Each time he giggled to himself, he'd been in the Colonel's truck back home and knew from experience that it was never the smoothest of rides with Jack O'Neill at the helm.

Sam began to wake up, her body stiffening as she realised she was not in a familiar environment. Reassuring her quickly he felt her relax, although she did lift herself up so she was facing him.

"Feeling better?"His eyes were full of concern

"Mmm… yeah."She rubbed her eyes unconsciously. "I didn't realise I was so exhausted."

She looked to Daniel who remained silent, a strange expression on his face. She looked at him quizzically, wondering what was going on. Raising her eyebrows at him she silently demanded that he spit it out.

"So… what's going on with Jack?" he asked timidly, almost afraid to look at her. "You know you can always talk to me, right?"

Sam breathed in sharply and slowly let the air escape. What had happened between them was becoming more and more of a bad idea in her mind. Her sense of duty to the Air Force had returned, the idea of flouting regulations in such a way distressed her – the idea of being court martial-ed and prevented from doing her work at the SGC made her feel physically ill.

"God I don't know Daniel."Sam angrily fought back tears, annoyed with herself for letting her feelings get to her so easily. "Before we left the SGC Élodie took me aside and told me not to let love pass me by… and then back in that hut – it was all because I'd been told he was dead… and then he was there in front of me-"she stopped, not knowing what to say.

"Sam,"Daniel reached out to her and put his hand on her shoulder, "the way you guys have been looking at each other for the past couple of years… you're just short-changing yourself by denying your feelings."

Sam punched the wall next to her in frustration, eliciting a concerned shout from the front of the truck. Shouting a hurried "It's ok! Sorry!", she looked at Daniel and let a small giggle escape. Recovering her composure, she sighed and spoke again, looking decidedly dejected.

"I can't compromise my position at the SGC – we have that many enemies as it is. And I don't want to go against regulations – there are good reasons for their existence."She looked to him, hoping that somehow he would have the magic answer.

"You know that regulation's kinda funny."Daniel tried to find the words to express himself. "Theoretically, if I were a woman, and I were in a relationship with Jack–"He paused seeing the look on Sam's face; paralysed in silent laughter at the concept of himself as a woman. "I swear what I'm about to say has a purpose."His face had turned completely red at the ridiculous phrase he just said. "Anyways, if that were the case – as ridiculous as it would be – we wouldn't be going against any regulations – I'm not military."

Sam considered what Daniel had said, although going by her expression it still appeared that her reaction was somewhere between shock and hysteria. What he said was theoretically sound – were she a civilian member of SG1 and not a military member, Jack wouldn't technically be her commanding officer anymore and they would be free to have a meaningful relationship outside of their work.

She looked into Daniel's eyes, smiling, thankful he was there – even if he had the annoying ability to make her talk about her feelings. She didn't even know if it was worth risking what she had by taking it further with Jack – the idea of losing him or jeopardising their team was inconceivable. She let her head drop into her hands, unable to think clearly, let alone formulate a response to Daniel. She felt his hand squeeze hers reassuringly and looked up, smiling feebly.

"Don't worry too much about it now,"he sat back, settling into the side of the truck. "We're in the 1930s… SGC regulations could be seen as somewhat irrelevant here."

Sam smiled at him, grateful for his support.

Outskirts, San Sebastiàn

O'Neill looked from the road in front of him to the large man sitting next to him. It had been a long, tense drive; each of them expecting resistance – or at least a farm truck along the way. There had been nothing, apart from the odd noise from the back of the truck which made him wonder what the hell Carter and Daniel were doing; he was driving very carefully, as far as he knew. His eyes flitted to Teal'c again to be greeted by a raised eyebrow.

"What?" He demanded. "You've been looking at me like that for the last 2 hours!"

"I am not aware of looking at you in a particular fashion, O'Neill."The Jaffa's eyebrow remained high on his forehead. "However I am curious."

"Yeah?" O'Neill growled. "What are you curious about?"

The decorated Air Force Colonel looked towards his team member, slightly apprehensive of what would come out of the normally quiet man.

"I was under the impression that regulations forbade the existence of an intimate relationship between yourself and Major Carter."He looked straight ahead, speaking calmly – as if he were talking about the weather.

O'Neill nearly swerved the truck off the road – this line of questioning did not fall under what he considered a 'curiosity'.

"Jeez Teal'c," he shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "If I'd known you were going to come out with that, I'd have taken my chances and put Daniel in the seat next to me."

"I am sorry O'Neill."Teal'c bowed his head slightly. "I will speak of it no further."

Jack looked across to his friend and winced. He knew the guy never revealed his feelings in an obvious way – but after a couple of years it wasn't hard to guess when he was put out.

"Nah don't worry 'bout it T."He sighed deeply, astonished that he was about to talk about this. "Regulations do forbid me and Sam – Carter – from having a relationship. Problem is, I really care about her… and I don't know what I'd do without her… and I want to be with her all the time."He paused, trying to express himself."I mean, you've seen me pretend to listen to all that science mumbo-jumbo she comes up with! I have NO IDEA what she's talking about but I stand there and watch her say it anyway."

"Indeed it appears that you both harbour deep feelings for each other."Teal'c smiled slightly, in one of those rare occasions where his face actually formed an expression. "Should you not explore these while we are sufficiently removed from the regulations?"

O'Neill let his jaw drop open, not daring to look at Teal'c. The straight-laced Jaffa only ever went against the rules if he believed in the cause – otherwise his allegiance to the SGC was impenetrable. He didn't reply to this advice, choosing to return the front of the truck into a tense silence.

Insurgents' camp, San Sebastiàn

O'Neill blinked in the late afternoon sunlight, reaching for his trademark sunglasses. He looked all around him, yawning with the fatigue of the last couple of days. He diverted his gaze systematically to each of his team.

"It is just me, or should there actually be people here."The sarcasm was dripping from his voice.

Predictably enough, it was Daniel who answered.

"Well if word got out of the conflict at Pamplona, I guess they'd be elsewhere…"he scratched his head in puzzlement. "But then I guess we would have seen them."

"Sir!"Carter's voice cut into the silence. "Someone coming, 3 o'clock."

All four of them swung around, weapons gathered from the truck fixed on the skinny man approaching. He put his hands above his head in a gesture of surrender, eyes wide with apprehension.

"Don't shoot,"she said in faltering French. "I am Juan; I am here to help you." He glanced nervously at the four of them as their guns remained fixed on him. "Élodie is alive!"He blurted out. "I was charged with killing her but instead took her a distance into the mountains and then directed her to cross the French border via the mountains."

At this statement Carter lowered her gun, motioning to the others to follow suit. O'Neill was the last to do so, reluctant to let his guard down in the face of yet another strange encounter with a Spaniard.

"He says he's Juan, sir."Carter explained quickly. "Apparently Élodie's alive. I don't think we exactly have anything better to do here but to listen to him – he's not armed."

O'Neill looked to the swarthy man, scepticism still at a high level. He sighed and sat down on a rock near the back of one of many warehouses.

"You know what, Carter?"His voice was tired. "I don't really care who this guy is. I wanna know how we're going to proceed next. We need to find the stargate, we need to find Élodie, and we need to transport the stargate."He looked up and directed his eyes into hers. "But most of all – I'm hungry!"He stood up again. "So please, all of you, suggestions?"

Daniel couldn't suppress a grin at this last comment that came from their leader. He had always been a simple man, direct in his motives, and it was well known that his stomach commonly dictated his actions. He looked back to the Spanish man, feeling the hope rise within him at the idea that Élodie may in fact be alright. Apart from her necessity to the mission, he felt a certain rapport with her, and was eager to learn more about the druids of Brittany and their connection to the stargate.

It was Teal'c who spoke, addressing the silence. "I believe we should interrogate this man, O'Neill," he looked to Carter for confirmation. "To ascertain the validity of his claims and, if you wish, find sustenance."

"Ok." He moved in concert with Teal'c to restrain Juan, while Carter reassured the alarmed Spaniard that they only wanted to verify his true intentions. "Carter, please ask the man to take us to our weapons, and then to get some food."

Mess hall, insurgents' camp, San Sebastiàn

Carter looked from her superior officer to Juan nervously. O'Neill refused to let his guard down and, in the process, was making the poor Spaniard increasingly ill at ease. Fearing an overreaction on the part of their prisoner, she reached her hand out to touch O'Neill's arm.

"Sir, I think he's got the idea." She said softly. "He looks petrified; no need to give him the evil eye while you eat."

O'Neill looked to his second in command with an amused look on his face.

"The 'evil-eye', Carter? I'm just keeping an eye on him is all." He looked towards Teal'c who was on the point of asking just what an 'evil-eye' was. "Don't worry T, it's just an expression."

Daniel had been ignoring this exchange, concentration more on the best way to proceed with Juan. He didn't want to alarm the man, but they needed information – and quickly – about the situation at hand. He cleared his throat, causing all 4 pairs of eyes to shift towards him.

"So, Juan," he began, "Antonio informed us that you would be here, however we somewhat expected there to be a small army here as well – we thought we'd have to hide out, not be able to sit in the dining room eating couscous."

The Spanish man seemed relieved at the prospect of conversation, an indication that they would at last begin treating the situation with the gravity it deserved.

"You are correct in thinking there should be others present," he began, "however when Antonio sent word of your imminent arrival, I leaked information of a republican organisation in a nearby town which had been plotting against this facility. Everyone is currently on mission." He paused, looking around nervously. "We actually do not have a lot of time to do whatever it is you wish to do, they are due to be back at dawn."

"What happened to Élodie, exactly?" Carter was now in charge of the interrogation.

"I told you before," Juan sat back, somewhat discouraged. "I took her to the mountains and told her to proceed into France." He paused, remembering a detail, "I gave her back the strange gadgets she had with her, like the ones I just returned to you"

O'Neill leaned forward following the adept translation from Daniel.

"She had her radio?" the excitement was creeping into his voice. "This is good." Retrieving his radio from the table he was about to speak into it before Daniel grabbed it from his hands. "What the-?" he was interrupted by Carter.

"Sir, it should probably be me or Daniel that makes contact, considering her English isn't exactly fluent." She held her hand out to Daniel and spoke into the radio. "Élodie? Can you hear me? It's Samantha. We are safe, our weapons have been returned to us by the same man that helped you"

All members of SG1 seemed to hold their breaths while waiting for a response, quiet static weighed more and more heavily on the room. Just as O'Neill looked like he was about to attack Juan for having lied to them, a frightened voice came through the radio.

"Hello? Samantha? Oh thank goodness you're alright!" They could hear the relief even through the static. "Where are you? I am near the base where we were captured – it is very strange, there are no people there, although I see a light in one of the buildings."

"It's ok Élodie, that's us." Daniel had taken the radio and was now laughed lightly, almost giddy with the relief of the situation. "They'll all be gone until dawn. Come on in and get something to eat" He had moved to the door and was now looking into the bleak forest surrounding them, searching for a sign of life.

Suddenly he saw the bushes move and a dirty, hungry, Élodie emerge. Rushing towards he saw she was crying with happiness at seeing they were all ok; she clutched at him, holding him in a tight hug for a good 30 seconds before she would let him go. He led her back inside with the others.

The six of them had been sitting around the table for about half an hour eating, happy to let the conversation that would follow wait, at least until they were all feeling refreshed. Sam had treated a couple of abrasions sustained by Élodie during her short time in hiding, as well as properly taking care of her own injuries and those of her team mates.

Daniel had spent most of his time talking to Élodie, updating her on the events passed during their ordeal in captivity. Upon hearing of their encounter with Antonio she gasped, so audibly that the others stopped talking and turned towards her.

"_Donc c'est là qu'Antoine s'est caché pendant ce temps!_ So that's where Antonio's been hiding all this time!" She looked to Juan as if only now first seeing him in the room. "You ARE Juan," she continued in French, "now that I think about it I recognise you from Antonio's descriptions!" She turned to Daniel. "I'm pretty sure he is who he says he is, but if you want to be sure, he should have a substantial scar on his left leg from a training accident."

Daniel repeated this to the others and O'Neill was on his feet, approaching the other side of the table before anyone could say anything. Upon checking Juan's leg, O'Neill and especially Teal'c were finally convinced they could trust the man before them, more or less. Their attention turned to the task at hand.

"Carter," O'Neill turned to his colleague, "since I can't understand a word of what these guys are saying, I want you to find out how we're going to move the stargate – and I need you to give some thought as to where, we're slightly off our mission plan considering we're in Spain and not France."

"Actually sir," it was obvious Carter had been thinking about this during the past 24 hours, "I think moving the stargate shouldn't be too difficult – they must have moved it here _somehow_. As for where we're going to go, I think it's agreed that we have to get back into France. We can probably drive it back in ourselves, but we need a faster way of getting to the north-east of the country – otherwise we'll risk getting caught at too many points along the way"

O'Neill sat back in his chair as he listened to Sam speak. It wasn't that he was bored by what she was saying; it wasn't even that he couldn't follow what she was saying. He realised with a pang of guilt that he couldn't pay attention to her speech because he was paying way too much attention to: the cute way her nose crinkles up when she's solving a problem; the way her hair seems to shine when any light, no matter how feeble, is directed on it; the way she still exudes a refined sense of femininity, even when in ill-fitting 1930s apparel. Shaking himself out of this reverie he realised she had stopped talking and was now looking at him, waiting for his answer.

"Sir?" she was starting to look concerned. "Sir, did you hear what I said?"

"Wha- oh yeah Carter sorry, I guess I'm just tired." He shrugged slightly, trying to hide his eyes from her. "Um, I heard up to the part where you said we should drive back into France but then we need to find a faster way of getting up north." He looked at her hopefully; perhaps she hadn't said anything else that was particularly important.

Sam smiled, she knew he hadn't been listening – the look on his face had been the same one that came over him whenever she talked physics. She decided to let him off easy this time.

"That was about it sir. Shall I talk to Élodie and Juan to see exactly how we're going to pull this off?" She was smiling slightly deviously, letting him know that in fact he _had _missed something.

"You're the boss," O'Neill sighed, giving up yet again – he knew she was the real brains behind the success of their team anyway. "Just keep translating for me, I promise I'll pay attention."

Sam smiled and looked over to Daniel, blushing slightly as she saw he had been watching them rather closely. Regaining her composure quickly, her voice recovered the briskness required of the situation.

"So Juan," she was speaking in slow French, so as to avoid any misunderstandings. "It's imperative that we get the great ring back into France." She cut him off as he was about to speak. "I can't tell you why exactly, but I need to know how you got it here in the first place – our truck won't support its weight."

"I knew it!" Juan was nearly bubbling over with excitement. "The great ring is a weapon, isn't it? But why are you to take it into France, can't it be of more use here in Spain? Our battle with Franco's forces is not going well; they are receiving more and more reinforcements from Hitler and Mussolini by the day."

Sam sighed, sharing a silent conversation with Daniel. It would be best to maybe play to the belief that the great ring was a weapon. Its true function, and fate, would not exactly be what Juan was hoping for.

"The true nature of the great ring is not important; it would be dangerous for you to know too much about it." She cut him off as he began to protest. "It isn't ready to be used yet, it doesn't work properly. We need to transport it back to the lab, along with the device that has all the strange buttons, so that it may be completed."

"Ah yes I see," Juan was creating his own explanation for the events surrounding him. "That's why Élodie was taken with the device; they couldn't get it to work."

"Ah yeah, exactly." Daniel took over, before anyone else could interject. "That's right isn't it Élodie?" His eyes transmitted all she needed to know: nod and agree.

O'Neill was becoming increasingly agitated with the barrage of French that was flowing between them. He looked over to Teal'c, who appeared to be studying their exchanges.

"T? You getting any intel over there?"

"Negative, O'Neill. However I do believe that the Spanish man speaks in earnest. His gestures are not evasive"

"Well that's something." O'Neill whispered to himself, leaning back into his chair and leaning his head against his hands. "Carter, can we move this along a bit, I want a chance for us all to rest before we leave."

Sam turned from Juan to look at the Colonel, who seemed thoroughly bored. Ignoring his comment she turned back to Juan and re-asked her question regarding transport of the stargate.

"We have a special truck," he began. "It took us many weeks to build it; we designed a trolley capable of balancing the great ring and a track that would guide it into the truck."

O'Neill's eyes snapped open as soon as Daniel translated that last sentence.

"Great! Let's get this truck and be on our merry way!" he stood up, yet again ready to jump straight into action. Seeing the look on Carter's face, however, he sat down again. "What's the catch?"

"Juan," Sam was ignoring O'Neill for the moment. "Where is this truck?"

"Alas, it was taken by the forces and won't be back until dawn at the earliest – if it has not been destroyed." He looked to his captors, almost afraid of the reaction they would have to this news.

Sam looked to Daniel and Élodie, breathing out slowly. Apparently they weren't going to avoid some sort of confrontation after all.

"The _Cagoule_." She whispered the words, leading to curious looks from the rest of SG1, and shocked gasps from Élodie and Juan. She turned to those who didn't understand the reference. "I think I know how we can get both the truck and the gate without any trouble; they'll probably even _help_ us if they buy the story." She paused, looking to Élodie, who seemed to be catching on to the idea and gave her a smile of approval, before addressing her team once more. "The Cagoule was a network of right-wing organisations that had definite extremist tendencies. The word actually means hood/shroud, a reference to the fact that the protagonists should have no faces or names. In fact, they're about to be exposed as having a cache of weapons in France, I think. If we can persuade the insurgents that we're from the Cagoule and have been charged with a mission involving the gate, they'll just give it to us."

"Nice one Carter!" O'Neill seemed energised by this latest bit of information. "When we get back home, you're DEFINITELY going to get a pay rise!"

She smiled at her commanding officer, enjoying the praise before reality returned and she fully considered the tenuous nature of this plan.

"It's not completely certain, sir." She began, humbly. "We don't know that they'll buy it; we'll need to be ready to try and take the truck and gate by force if necessary." She paused before turning back to Juan. "What about the device that was with the stargate? Where is that?"

"Alas I know not of what you speak. Only the gate arrived here from Biarritz." He shrugged at them, his words spreading a sense of dread into those who could understand.

O'Neill considered this momentarily. Apparently they only had half of what they needed at this site, and only an extremely risky plan to get it. Leaning forward, he spoke; certain of what needed to be done.

"Ok. Here's how it's going to work." All eyes turned to his commanding voice. "We've probably got about 10 hours before the welcoming committee comes back and asks what the hell we're doing here. We all need a bit of rest, but we need to try and find out as much as we can about the whereabouts of the DHD." He paused, waiting for Daniel to translate for the French speakers. "So Teal'c, you're with me looking on watch and recon for the first shift, Daniel and Carter, you guys rest. We'll wake you in four hours. You two," he motioned to Élodie and Juan, "should both rest until we call you – there's no sense in you losing sleep unnecessarily."

"Would you not prefer to rest at first O'Neill," Teal'c spoke out, somewhat surprising O'Neill. "You have been more injured than either Daniel Jackson or myself, and were driving for many hours today."

"Yeah Jack, I feel fine, and anyway it would be useful to have someone who speaks French at all times, just in case we're surprised." Daniel was catching on to the underlying drift of Teal'c's suggestion. "You and Sam should find some beds and get some sleep."

Sam forced herself not to go red at the suggestion dripping in both Teal'c and Daniel's voices. It wasn't that she didn't appreciate the fact that they were attempting to give her and Jack some time to themselves, it was just that she was having a hard enough time wrestling with her feelings and conscience. Adding an opportunity to be in close proximity to O'Neill with no one else around was not what she needed to think clearly. Looking to the object of her thoughts, she saw a similar play of emotions wash over his face. However, Daniel didn't allow her the opportunity to object. Before she could say anything, he had instructed Élodie and Juan to take them to sleeping quarters and left the room with Teal'c.

Warehouse, insurgents' camp, San Sebastiàn

Teal'c looked around the warehouse the gate was resting in. Happily enough, it was still on the coaster-trolley designed to make its manoeuvre easier. Strong as he was, he was well aware that a stargate was no small thing to move from one place to another. As he recalled, it had taken many jaffa pulling on long ropes to move when he had been first prime of Apophis. He looked over to Daniel Jackson's position, looking in any corner for the elusive DHD. He was about to turn to examine the other end of the warehouse when a small scrap of paper caught his eye.

Moving over to the base of the stargate, he picked it up, recognising it as being from the SGC (there was a sort of cryptic letterhead). The words on the scrap of paper were unfamiliar to him, suggesting it was in French. Although he assumed the note was of no importance – it must have fallen out of one of their pockets upon crossing the event horizon, he signalled to Daniel to approach.

"I am not capable of reading this language," he said sternly. "It is probably of no importance; however I found it adjacent to the stargate."

Daniel looked at the piece of paper and gasped.

"It… it appears to be from Madame Chabrol – I guess the older one," he began. "It says that the DHD was never transferred from Biarritz; that Front Populaire forces managed to retrieve it, while failing to recapture the gate from the clutches of the insurgents'." He looked to Teal'c, "Apparently they've taken it to some air force base near Paris. If this is genuine, then we'll need to go find it."

Daniel smiled slightly, his facial muscles relaxing with the possibility that they may be able to redeem their mission, despite its disastrous start. As long as he got confirmation from Élodie that it was indeed her handwriting, their concern tonight would fall to standing guard only.

Sleeping quarters, insurgents' camp, San Sebastiàn

Sam had only managed to sleep half the time allocated. For most of the other two hours, she lay perfectly still in the cot, listening to the man lying down just a metre away. She could tell from the lack of snoring that he wasn't asleep either, but was frozen in her position. Normally, they would be talking, planning their next move, even helping Daniel and Teal'c. But not this time; this time she needed to think. She could hear the even breathing of Juan and Élodie, indicating that they were asleep. It would be alright to talk to O'Neill now – they probably wouldn't wake the others in the room. She expelled an audible sigh in exasperation – what would she say? She cut her breath quickly, realising how loud her last breath had been. She heard her commanding officer shift in his position, but remained perfectly still – willing him to let it go.

"Carter?" he whispered, despite his brain telling him to let her alone. "You ok?"

He was facing her and could see the outline of her body in the cot next to his. He could see through the rigidity of her body she was tense. He longed to reach out and fast forward to a time when they would no longer be uncomfortable with each other – a time where their collective minds wouldn't resist what their hearts wanted. Trying to keep in 'soldier-mode', he lifted himself up slightly so he was leaning on his elbow.

"Wanna get some coffee?" he cringed at the words. Jack O'Neill presents: unoriginal pick-up lines of the century. Forcing himself to get a grip, he added, "I can't sleep, figure we're going to need a hell of a lot of caffeine in us to get through the next day." He paused, watching for a reaction on her part, but there was none. "You need to tell me more about this ruse we're going to attempt… this 'Cagoo' thingy."

At his trademark mispronunciation of yet another foreign concept, he finally elicited a response out of Carter, who couldn't suppress a small giggle. She turned her head towards him to see him concentrating on her, searching for reassurance that she was ok.

"Yeah, sure, sir." She slowly rose out of the cot. "I don't think I'm going to sleep anymore."

Before she could walk out of the room, O'Neill grabbed her hand, the sensible part of his mind vacating the building for the moment. He sat up, pulling her down onto the bed so they were sitting side by side.

"You sure you're ok?" His voice was tender, serious.

She could see the vague outline of his jaw in the gloomy light; she resisted the temptation to run her hand down along the crevices formed by his ever-growing population of wrinkles. She couldn't stop her face from portraying her uncertainty though. She tried to lie anyway.

"Yeah sure… I'm fine." She averted her eyes, hoping he would buy it.

Yet again, he wouldn't let it go. He lifted his hand to caress her cheek, before hugging her tightly.

"Sure you are Carter," his voice was muffled in her shoulder. "Just know we're in the same boat here, k?"

She disentangled herself from his embrace and looked at him, wondering if he really could feel as she did. She smiled weakly and got to her feet.

"Yeah, well right now this boat has a mission." With that she walked out of the room.

Outside, insurgents' camp, San Sebastiàn

All four members of SG1 were sitting outside the sleeping quarters, fast cooling coffee in their hands. It was one of the rare moments where they could sit and talk, albeit while retaining a sense of alertness in case someone should surprise them. Not for the first time, all eyes were on Carter as she explained the knowledge she had that would help them in their mission.

"The Cagoule," she continued, "is actually called the _Comité Secret d'Action Révolutionnaire_, the Secret Committee of Revolutionary Action. Its mission statement was – is – to take power either by conspiracy and force to fight against what they considered an international communist plot, and install a military regime in France."

"Well that's… ambitious." O'Neill looked somewhat amused at such a pompous-sounding organisation. "They failed, right?"

"Yes sir they did," Carter smiled. "Actually, they're in the process of all being arrested as we speak. That's going to be our main problem – if this is November 1937, then we've got less than a month to work with before the network is shut down altogether. In any case, it's not nearly as strong now as it was in June."

Silence descended on the four of them as this information was processed. A floundering right-wing terrorist organisation was not the safest of bets for a mission of such importance. In addition to that, there was now the possibility that they could be arrested should the wrong people hear about their 'mission' for the Cagoule. Teal'c was the first to speak.

"Are you sure there is no other way to proceed, Major Carter?" his face seemed to betray concern.

"I really don't know Teal'c," she shook her head, somewhat dolefully, "but if tensions really are as fraught as they were described to me in history classes, then this is the fastest way to get the mission done – especially considering we've now got to go and get the DHD from Paris." She looked to Daniel, hoping he at least understood. "In any case, they should be desperate by now – so much of their organisation has been exposed they should jump at the chance to revitalise it and complete their mission statement."

"So basically we're going to give a bunch of Hitler wannabees some hope? Isn't that nice of us." A sarcastic grimace was planted firmly on O'Neill's face. "If you say it can work Carter, that's good enough for me."

She nodded appreciatively before turning to Daniel.

"We're going to need to pretend that we're all actually French, which means that probably only me and Élodie should speak." She cut him off before he could object. "I'm sorry Daniel, but you do have a pronounced accent – it's obvious that English is your native tongue; and nothing would be worse than for them to realise we're American."

"What if we said Canadian?" he stopped, seeing from Sam's expression that there was to be no negotiation on the matter. "Okay, it's you and Élodie." Daniel turned to O'Neill. "So how are we going to convince them of our story exactly?"

At that moment, Élodie and Juan exited from one of the buildings in the camp, holding a stack of papers and some clothes.

"I think we have that response," Élodie said in English, before continuing in French. "There is a commander's office back there," she gestured to the papers in her hand, "I typed up these orders and Juan forged the Bib's signature."

"I'm sorry, 'the Bib'?" O'Neill turned to Carter, as did the other member's of SG1

"That was the nickname employed to describe one of the leaders of the Cagoule, Félix Martin. It is his escape to Italy in early December that spells the official end to Cagoule activities in France." She motioned for Élodie to continue.

"As I was saying," she handed the pages to Carter, "we have orders now to transfer the great ring to Toulouse for a mission that we've just described as being top secret and imperative for the triumph over Communism." She looked hopefully to Carter. "I don't know the future; do you think this will work? We've also got some uniforms we should change into, so as not to appear too strange, and your large friend here should wear some sort of hat"

Carter read the typed orders while Élodie handed the uniforms out. It certainly appeared genuine, although they wouldn't be able to gauge the reaction of the rebels until it would be too late to change their plan. Remembering that Élodie was known to them as a Socialist, she looked to her quickly.

"What are you going to do? They'll shoot us all on the spot if they see you alive and well."

Élodie nodded in recognition of this fact, but instead of responding, merely motioned to Juan.

"I believe when we are in France it won't be a problem, but here we'll have to sneak her onto the truck, perhaps in a crate." He paused, considering the logistics. "It would be best of only you and me spoke, as your French is passable and the men clearly already know me. Most of them don't even speak French so we can just pass everyone off as French." He stopped as he saw Carter nodding.

"We'd already discussed that, the others are fine with it." She followed his gaze to Daniel. "Daniel as well."

Taking charge of the situation, O'Neill stepped into the middle of the small circle of people.

"Dawn is approaching. Daniel, go with Élodie and get her hidden and ready for transport. Remember; don't say a word to anyone." He gave the last instruction more to the French woman than to Daniel. "Teal'c, you're with me keeping watch. Carter, you and Juan organise your speech for their arrival. We need to get out of here as fast as possible, before they smell a rat."

With that, the small group dispersed, ready for action.

Warehouse, Insurgents' camp, San Sebastiàn

Daniel crouched down slightly lower behind the large crate. He inched towards it, hiding his body in the shadow. He could hear the uneven breathing of an afraid Élodie inside, and whispered a few words of reassurance, as quietly as he could. The group of men surrounding Sam and Juan hadn't moved for some time now, it was all Daniel could do to stay put. Out of the corner of his eye he could see O'Neill and Teal'c, both in cover positions at opposite sides of the clearing. Even from this distance he could see the tension in them; especially Jack, who looked like he was ready to pounce should anyone even breathe inappropriately in Sam's direction. It didn't exactly look like the situation was going badly, but it certainly wasn't proceeding as fast as it should. What was most worrying was that some of the soldiers were beginning to look around them, maybe feeling that they were being watched. If they clocked any of those watching from afar before Juan or Sam had convinced them they really were from the Cagoule, it wouldn't be good.

A shout from behind the tree line bordering the camp snapped Daniel's attention from his study of the situation unfolding in front of him. He didn't understand the words but what he saw wasn't at all ambiguous, there was a group of men closing in on O'Neill's position. All at once noise exploded in the pre-dawn light at the camp as everyone started shooting. Teal'c was picking off the insurgents surrounding Carter and Juan one by one, while Sam concentrated on getting towards O'Neill's position. Daniel saw her moving, almost as if it were slow motion. There were four men coming down the hill, fast. Daniel saw O'Neill fall to the ground, kicked in the head by a soldier, just seconds before a heavy blow to the back of his neck forced him to the ground. The last thing he heard before it all went black was the angry roar of Teal'c and the frightened screams coming from Élodie next to him.

To be continued…


	4. Road Trip

_A/N: Speedy update! The next one shouldn't be too far away either! Enjoy._

**Part 4 – Roadtrip**

Warehouse, Insurgents' camp, San Sebastiàn

Élodie sat next to Daniel's unconscious body with Teal'c, Sam and Jack looking on. She stroked his cheek lightly and looked to Sam searchingly.

"He will be alright, won't he?" she said in French. "The lump on the back of his head is quite pronounced. What happened exactly?"

"He'll be fine." Sam rubbed her bruised arm as she replied to Elodie – yet again they had all been knocked about quite considerably. "We've all sustained much worse than that before. We just need to get him and the gate into the truck so we can get out of here before the others arrive. I just wish it hadn't gone down this way."

Sam looked to Jack and Teal'c who both seemed much the worse for wear after their small encounter with the rebel forces. How they had come off on top she didn't really know. The whole battle had been such complete chaos it was difficult to piece it together in her mind. One minute she's negotiating with the leaders of the camp, the next it was a fully-fledged battle. She didn't know what had startled the insurgents into making the first move, but at this point was just relieved that SG1 had come out on top. Juan's fate, however, filled her with sadness. So many people had already died in this fight between the left and the right, but it made her sick to her stomach that they were propagating the trend, rather than helping.

"Hey Carter," Sam looked up to see her superior officer looking at her with concern. "We did our best, okay? We didn't want any casualties but defended ourselves in the face of danger."

"It's not that sir," she sighed with the exhaustion of the last couple of days. "I left Juan vulnerable and he got shot. I shouldn't have left him – it wasn't rational of me."

She searched his eyes, hoping he would understand the real meaning behind these words. She had sprinted towards the man she cares most about in the world, and someone had been killed as a result. If that wasn't a reason why she shouldn't become romantically involved with a member of her team, then she didn't know what was.

"Major Carter I believe you acted correctly." Teal'c low voice filled the warehouse. "O'Neill had no knowledge of the soldiers advancing on his position and I was of too great a distance to be of assistance to him. Juan was a great warrior who fell in battle – through no fault of yours."

Sam looked from Teal'c's composed face to Jack. He nodded in appreciation to the Jaffa before speaking.

"He's right, Carter." He made a move to get up. "You can't dwell on the what-ifs, and you have to trust your instincts – even if you don't think their rational." He stood up and reverted into action mode. "T, we need to get that truck over here and load the gate, without Juan to help us it may take a bit to figure out the mechanism. Carter, stay here with Élodie and Daniel. If Danny boy wakes up – make sure you give him kudos from me for managing to be knocked unconscious _again_."

With that he strode through the large warehouse doors, followed by Teal'C.

Spain: somewhere between San Sebastiàn and Toulouse

Daniel clutched at his head with one hand and his stomach with the other, fighting both the excruciating pain emanating from the back of his skull and the strong nausea gripping him in these first moments of regained consciousness.

"Not again!" he groaned out loud. "Jeez - how many times is someone going to clock me over the head in this lifetime!"

He heard shuffling to his left and froze still, not knowing what to expect. Slowly he opened his eyes, thankfully to see a darkened enclosure – otherwise he was sure he wouldn't be able to resist the urge to throw up. As his eyes focussed with difficulty, he made out the shapes of two people sitting, looking at him, and an enormous ring clamped to floor behind them.

"Hey Teal'c," his mouth was dry and the words came thickly from his mouth. "We prisoners again?"

"We were victorious in our battle against the rebels, Daniel Jackson." The amusement was clear in Teal'c's voice. "However you were knocked unconscious. We have just left the base and are on our way to Toulouse, France."

Daniel looked around him and suddenly registered that the nausea he was feeling was mostly due to the fact that they were in motion. Resting his head back on the uneven surface that was the floor of the truck, he suddenly yelped in pain as the truck lurched over what must have been a large pothole in the road.

"Shit!" he screamed, just as Élodie swiftly moved to him and placed his head in her lap in a protective gesture. He looked up to her thankfully before addressing Teal'c again. "I guess Jack's driving then?" He added, somewhat wryly.

"Indeed Daniel Jackson." Daniel motioned for Teal'c to give him his radio and spoke into it.

"Hey Jack, I don't mean to sound rude, but I have a sizeable head injury here and would appreciate it if you took a little care with your driving." He let his hand flop down to his side when he finished talking, exhausted with the effort.

"Hey Daniel!" Jack's voice was unmistakably upbeat as it crackled through the radio. "Nice to see you're back with us – you had a certain frog _very_ worried." Jack paused at this comment, letting the words sink in. "I'm doing my best up here – but the standard of country roads in Spain have a long way to go before they're anywhere near what we're used to."

Daniel pulled the hand holding the radio back towards his mouth with considerable effort. "Yeah thanks Jack." He thought it better to ignore the reference to Élodie – he knew that when Jack was in the teasing mood, it could continue for hours, days, or even weeks. He didn't see any harm, however, in throwing a cheeky comment back to him. "Safe driving up there – don't let yourself get distracted." With that he tossed the radio back to Teal'c and drifted off to sleep.

Front of the truck

"Cheeky bastard", Jack looked at the radio and then to the woman sitting next to him, who was pointedly not looking in his direction. Deciding to change the subject, he cleared his throat and proceeded the best way he knew how – asking science-geeky questions.

"So… Carter." He paused to be sure he had her attention. "Explain it to me. Are we pretending to be part of Hitler's forces or what?"

The relief was obvious on her face. Knowledge was her strong suit, and he knew it would make her feel in control. "Not exactly sir." She gathered her thoughts to try and explain their current situation as simply as possible. "Although the French Communist Party had – or has – clear links to Moscow, the Cagoule is largely a French organisation which has its roots in the Veterans' associations from the-" She stopped, seeing the expression of quiet satisfaction on O'Neill's face. "What?"

O'Neill snapped out his reverie, cursing himself for letting her catch him in one of his many moments of quiet worship for her. "No no, go on. I'm listening."

"You're sure?" she didn't know why he was suddenly so interested in the background of this particular mission, but continued anyway. "Well as I was saying, these associations date from the First World War, but they were actually outlawed in mid-1936 – that's over a year ago in our present time-" She stopped again, seeing that despite his efforts, there was a clear grin on Jack's face. "What? Why are you grinning? You always do that when I'm explaining something!"

This time Jack was almost pleased with himself for the reaction he was getting out of her. _Here we go_, he thought to himself. It was time to lay his cards on the table.

"Dang, you've caught me out." He paused to gauge Sam's reaction, unsurprised to see her mouth frozen half open. "C'mon, you've gotta know I never _really_ follow you when you go into 'knowledge mode' – I'm not that bright."

Sam was too stunned to form full sentences. Of course she knew he never really understood a lot of what she worked on, but he'd never admitted to it. The tone of his voice unsettled her slightly too, it was as if he was having fun with her.

"Then why-?"

"Why do I ask you?" He was unashamedly grinning now. "Because I know you love trying to teach me…" He paused, looking for the right words. "Your face lights up – whenever I want to distract you from something that's troubling you, I'm giving you control, a way forward, a way to provide the solution to a problem – even if that problem is only my own ignorance."

Sam looked at her commanding officer in bewilderment. She wasn't prepared for where this conversation was going; she wasn't prepared for this type of conversation. On the one hand her heart leapt upon hearing that he cared– and had obviously done so for years, judging by the amount of times he'd asked her to try and explain things to him. Thinking carefully, she realised that almost every time the situation had been getting out of hand on a mission, he did exactly that – distracted her by asking her to try and explain something. Annoyed with herself for being so easily duped, she looked off into the distance ahead of them.

"Ah shoot," Jack was damned if he was going to let it go. "Don't go all silent on me. I think it's amazing that you know so much. I'm really in awe. All this French stuff? I had no idea you'd even been there and it turns out you're a bilingual freakin' expert!" He looked at her, but she was still avoiding his gaze. "You know how I feel…" He stopped short of actually expressing his feelings, still cautious of crossing that bridge. "I like to see you happy; and explaining stuff… well it makes your eyes light up – you relish it."

"How do you really feel?" Sam's words were barely audible; she said them more to herself than as a serious question to him.

"I, uh… well… let's just say that if certain regulations didn't exist… uh… then… y'know." This had not been the plan. Getting into feelings was not Jack's strongest suit – he much preferred some light banter and then _maybe _allusions to his feelings.

"But is it really just the regulation? Or is that an excuse?" Sam couldn't take her eyes off the buttons on her milita uniform. She hated herself for feeling so powerless, so dependent on someone else's response. She should be stronger than this, she should be able to control this situation, and yet she found herself feeling like she was sixteen again.

Sensing the inner turmoil swirling around Sam's head, Jack reached out to her and placed his hand on top of hers. He took his eyes off the road just long enough to force her to look at him, so she could see the sincerity in her eyes.

"Sam there's nothing in the world I would like more than to be with you – always." He shifted his eyes back to the road ahead of him, but moved his hand to gently squeeze her arm as compensation. "This regulation… I know it's there for a reason, so we can be objective in our decisions in times of crisis. But now that I think about it, I don't think that's really been the case for some time now – I don't treat you like I would any other soldier, I care about you too much. That probably goes for the guys as well – I don't think our team has been of a strictly objective military nature for ages now."

He stopped talking abruptly, afraid he may have said too much – revealed too much. Despite what the older Élodie had said, despite what had happened in Pamplona – what if he was wrong about this? Just as he began to pull his hand away from its comfortable grip on Sam's arm, he felt her hand clasp his and the soft touch of her lips placing a kiss on his fingers.

"You know," she began, lightening the mood with ease. "My eyes can "light up" when I'm not talking physics or history."

Jack smiled and retrieved his hand, relieved they were back in familiar territory. "I know, this is just my best method for making them do that." He turned briefly towards her with a mischievous look on his face. "Are you suggesting something else? Should I mispronounce the name of this 'Kagoo' thingy?"

"Why don't we just talk about something else? Not work related." As she said those words Sam felt a small amount of tension return to the front cabin of the truck.

"Such as?" Jack had felt the shift in the air too, and didn't really know where or how to proceed.

"Well," Sam considered her options. "Let's start with something non-threatening. What did you get up to last weekend?"

"Nearly got killed by some freaky alien gadget," Came the swift reply, safety in sarcasm as always. "How 'bout you?"

"I meant after that," Sam paused before adding: "Jack."

Jack raised his eyebrows slightly at the sound of his first name, but said nothing about it.

"Oh right, sure." He thought back to what was only a couple of days ago but seemed amazingly far away. "Well, got drunk with the boys on Saturday watching the game and went fishing on Sunday. Not that exciting – nice though; perfect weather up at the cabin this time of year."

"That the place you're always trying to coax me to?" Sam inwardly breathed a sigh of relief at the fact that she had managed to finally use his first name without prompting, although it still sounded strange.

"Yeah," Jack looked over to her, grinning. "You ever gonna to take me up on that offer or what?"

"Well, only problem is, I don't really like fishing." Sam knew that comment was going to get a reaction.

"You think I was really asking you there to _fish_?" Her companion retorted. "I KNOW you're smarter than that." Jack changed the subject before she had the chance to respond. "So, what'd you get up to? Did you even leave the base?"

Sam rolled her eyes. "You really think I have no life?" She feigned being indignant. "I'll have you know I had a great day with friends on Sunday – we rented a plane and went for a joyride. We actually probably flew over you as you sat there drinking – I mean 'fishing' – at your cabin." _Two can play at this game_, she thought.

"Ah, but that's only Sunday," Jack smirked in the knowledge that he had her. "You were 'simulating' in your lab at the SGC on Saturday weren't you?" Sam didn't respond – he was right of course. "Thought so – see, I do know you Carter."

Sam crossed her arms defensively. "It's what makes me happy. What do you want me to say?" She turned away again, prompting O'Neill to this time not only reach out for her but pull her closer to him, leaving his arm draped around her shoulder.

"Don't say anything Sam, just take advantage of this wonderfully old-fashioned notion of a bench seat and come here." He pulled her until she was pressed up against him and then, unable to stop himself, playfully tickled her side.

"Hey!" she jumped almost out of her seat, but his grip was firm and she was unable to move away from him.

"Ticklish Carter?" His eyes twinkled as he tormented her, before she suddenly fought back, nearly causing him to swerve off the road.

He was looking at her, feigning shock that she would fight back, when suddenly they both stopped tickling each other and froze still, looking deep into the other's eyes. His lips grazed the tip of her nose before she tilted her head upwards and their lips met, at first tentatively and then more urgently as they both poured their emotion into the embrace.

At that moment the truck lurched violently off the side of the road, causing an array of expletives to come out of Jack's mouth as he disengaged himself from Sam long enough to avoid a crash. As he regained control of the truck, the radio crackled into life.

"Uh guys?" Daniel's voice sounded amused. "It's great you're having fun up there, but we'd like to stay on the road if that ok."

Jack grabbed the radio of the dashboard before Sam could get to it. "Sorry Daniel, there was a bug bothering me." He fought to maintain control of the car as the 'bug' huffily poked him in the side. "It's bugging Sam now," he took his hand off the wheel, again risking a crash, to exact revenge on her through a reprisal of their tickle-war.

Sam took the opportunity to grab the radio out of his other hand. "I've got it under control, Daniel –" she stopped, unable to stifle a yelp as Jack again caused her to jump. "We'll try not to jolt you around too much."

Daniel looked at the radio, amusement in his eyes. He looked to Teal'c, who appeared rather puzzled, and then laughed. The humour was still in his voice when he spoke again. "Ok Sam, good to hear. We'll take over in a while so you can have a … 'rest' … back here. See you in a couple of hours."

At those last words Jack looked towards his companion and pulled her closer to him again, this time resisting the urge to have a tickling war. "What was that last bit about? You guys been talking?"

"Maybe… he just wants me to be happy." With that she relaxed, leaning into Jack, and gazed at the road ahead.

"So do I Sam." Jack replied quietly, almost so she couldn't here. They both continued the trip in silence, more comfortable than they had been in a long while.

France: somewhere between San Sebastiàn and Toulouse

Sam had fallen asleep, leaning against Jack's comfortable frame. He had felt her go to sleep, the tension in her body slowly releasing as she became more of a dead weight nestled under his right arm. He loved the feel of her against his side and couldn't keep himself from stealing glances at her every other minute. Subconsciously rubbing his thumb on the side of her sleeve, he was struck by how _right_ this position felt. If someone had told him the week before that he would be considering throwing the rule-book out of the window, he – well honestly he would have believed them - but if they'd specified that he'd be throwing out _this_ rule, then he'd have still been stunned. He smiled to himself and pulled Sam just that bit closer to him, his eyes automatically directed on the road ahead.

O'Neill was snapped out of his daydream by the sight of a roadblock up ahead. There were two army trucks parked across the road and what looked to be about 15 men in position, guarding the blockade. Cursing to himself, he nudged Carter awake.

"Sam, wake up." He whispered softly, before reaching for his radio. "Heads up T, Daniel. We've got a roadblock ahead."

Sam opened her eyes lazily, smiling as she remembered whose comfortable body she was resting against. She turned her face towards his but was forced out of her sleepy daze by the look of alarm on his face.

"What's going on?" She sat up, immediately alert.

"We've got company. Are you right to do all the talking?" Jack's side immediately felt cold now that she had moved to the other side of the seat.

"Yeah sure, but are we still in Spain or have we crossed the border already?" Sam was furiously fossicking in the backpack at her feet, trying to gather the documents for their confrontation.

"What difference does it make? You just have to work your magic on them" The tension was evident in his voice.

"All the difference in the world," she straightened up, having found the pile of papers she needed. "If we're in France and we pretend to be from the Cagoule, but these people are loyal to the Popular Front, then we'll be in big trouble"

Jack looked at her, having not understood the nuance of what she said. He decided not to bother trying to understand the political climate of 1930s France. "Ah, right. Well we're in France I think. There was a change in the language on the roadsigns." He hoped that helped.

"Shit"

Apparently not.

"Daniel!" Sam had grabbed the radio and now spoke into it with some urgency. "We've got a roadblock but we're in France, not Spain. I don't have the documentation for that. Can you tell Élodie to be ready? We need her to prove she knows the minister."

Sam ignored O'Neill's questioning gaze as she furiously ripped what he thought were precious documents to shreds before stuffing them in between the seat and the floor of the cabin.

"Sure thing Sam," Daniel's voice came over the radio. "She says she anticipated the problem and even has some forged documents. The story is that Jack, Teal'c and I are Canadian liaisons from Montréal here on request from a Monsieur Pierre Cot – does that make any sense to you?"

Sam held the radio up to her mouth but sat frozen for a couple of minutes, thinking things through. "Yeah sure Daniel, that sounds about right. Be ready for them to open up the back."

She hid the radio in her jacket and smiled at Jack who was looking towards here expentantly. "No time to explain now sir, just try not to be too… American."

Jack smiled, amused at her last comment. "And how exactly does one act when trying not to be American?"

Sam was too distracted to appreciate the humour in his voice. Her hands were fixed on her knees, clenched slightly in anticipation of the situation ahead of them. She merely looked at him with exasperation as the truck slowed to a halt.

Roadblock, France

"_Bonjour messieurs,_ Hello gentlemen," Sam began in her flawless French. "Is there a problem with the road?"

The two soldiers looked to each other, confusion in their eyes. It was highly unusual for a woman to be present in the large convoys that had been seen in the area, let alone one who seemed to be in charge of the situation.

"_Madame_," they began warily, "we need to see your identification and mission statements for this transport please. There have been reports of arms shipments to Spain, which, you will be aware, are illegal under the non-intervention rule."

Sam smiled at them in what she hoped was a completely normal way. "Of course, we are transporting a very special piece of equipment from Biarritz to Toulouse. I am under the orders of the Minister for Transport, Pierre Cot. The papers are in the back of the truck with the cargo and our three companions."

"And why does your companion here not speak?" Another soldier who had been standing back stepped forward, sceptical.

Sam looked to Jack, silently pleading with him once more to behave. "He is a Canadian scientist contracted by _Monsieur le Ministre _Pierre Cot, and does not speak French. It is all detailed in the orders from the Minister, if you will just let me get them for you-"

Apparently the soldier was not willing to trust what Sam had said, for as soon as he heard that Jack didn't speak French, the doors were wrenched open and the two occupants pulled roughly out, guns trained on them.

"_Camarades!_ My friends," Sam looked from the soldiers to O'Neill, who looked completely bewildered. "I realise you must be thorough in your enforcement of the law, but if you would just check our credentials-"

"_Silence_!" Even Jack understood that word, similar as it was to the English. He moved protectively towards Sam, only to be shoved back in the other direction roughly.

"_Jacques, va voir pour les documents, mais fais gaffe – ils ont forcément des armes là-dedans_. The soldier motioned for one of his team to check the back of the truck.

"He's going to check the documents, sir" Sam whispered out the side of her mouth, reverting to addressing her CO formally. She waited anxiously, hoping Daniel and Teal'c had the good sense not to point any weapons at the man.

The sounds of struggle that came from behind the truck confirmed her fears. "_Non!_" she cried out. "Don't hurt them! Check the documents!" She struggled to get to them, only to be restrained by one of the soldiers.

"_Calme-toi, ma chérie_. Calm down, darling. Our men are just doing their jobs." He was restraining her closely, grabbing her body in places he shouldn't."

Jack watched as the man grabbed Carter and felt himself lose his composure. He understood the word 'cherie' and lost all ability to stand by without doing anything.

"You ANIMAL!" He roared, weaving out of reach of the soldier charged with watching him. He raced the 10 metres across to where Sam was and grabbed the guy holding on to her before realizing there were now three guns pointed straight at him.

"_Arrêtez!_ Stop" Sam spoke in both English and French, for the benefit of all those fighting over her. But it was too late, she saw the men preparing to shoot as Jack lunged towards two of them. Sighing, she directed her attention to the third, disposing of him with a swift kick to the groin and punch to the face.

She turned to O'Neill just in time to see one of the men force him to kneel on the ground, gun poised to shoot. Time seemed to slow down, she felt as if she were frozen on the spot as she tried to move towards him, screaming for the man to stop, when suddenly she heard the familiar electronic sound of a zat gun being fired. The man who would have shot Jack tensed with the electric shock before collapsing on the ground.

Time returned to normal and Sam found herself at Jack's side, helping him up. She didn't try to stop herself from placing her hand on his cheek, silently making sure he was alright, before turning to see Teal'c and Daniel take care of the remaining soldiers.

Jack stood looking at Carter as she assessed the situation around them. He reached out to touch her arm. "Hey, close one eh? Was I too American or something?" He grinned cheekily as she lightly punched him.

"Yeah, right, too American." She sighed wearily. "I think you were just American enough – we're the good guys, we don't get killed. Just let me take care of myself next time, k?"

He draped his arm over her shoulder and surveyed the scene before them. Two trucks parked on the road and 15 men on the ground, SG1 victorious yet again.

"Hey Daniel, Teal'c. Nice timing." He smiled to them warmly, not bothering to disentangle himself from Sam. "Where's the French chick?"

Teal'c looked at O'Neill and Carter, puzzled by their seeming lack of compunction about their position. He looked quickly to Daniel, while motioning towards them, but the archaeologist was already moving towards the back of the truck.

"Élodie Chabrol is behind the truck, O'Neill, she was knocked unconscious by a French soldier. I assure you we did not provoke the attack."

"That's ok Teal'c" It was Sam who responded, calmly distancing herself from Jack and heading towards the back of the truck to check on the Frenchwoman. "They were pretty on edge. Thanks for coming to our rescue."

The remaining members SG1 moved to the back of the truck where Élodie was propped against the rear wheel, a nasty bump forming on her right temple. Daniel was sitting by her side, zat gun on the ground next to them, with her head resting in his lap. Soon enough she stirred back to life.

"_Aie, ma tête!_ My head!" she groaned, reaching for her head before opening her eyes to see Daniel's hazel eyes trained on her.

"Welcome to our world," Daniel chuckled in French, his hand moving to brush a stray lock of hair off her face. "Hardly a day goes by without being knocked unconscious. Are you ok otherwise?"

His eyes were filled with concern. It was bad enough they had hijacked this woman's life with their mission, he didn't want her to have to go through more than was absolutely necessary. He motioned for the others to give them some space and helped Élodie to sit up. She seemed to be totally speechless, but he tried to reassure her by taking her hand in his.

"Yes, I am fine. Just a bit overwhelmed by everything." She squeezed his hand slightly before reaching to her head, grimacing in pain. "If someone had told me I'd be sabotaging the anti-fascist cause with the help of the US army, I'd never have believed them."

Her eyes were squinted shut, presumably with the pain of the head injury, but re-opened to reveal tears welling in them. Daniel looked at her helplessly, understanding the torment that must be whirling through her mind, but unsure as to what he should do. Without saying anything, he moved closer to her until their faces were inches apart, they eyes locked.

"You know we're not trying to sabotage the anti-fascist cause, right?" His hands were clasped on her shoulders, trying to make her understand. "Time is such a fragile concept, we have to let things go down just as is, otherwise the future could be _much_ worse." He paused as her head dropped, nodding silently with resignation. "And I meant what I said about warning your family and friends to escape – at least south, out of the occupied zone. We don't want _anything_ to happen to you or them – and that's not just because we need you to come to us in the future. I want to help, and I'm so sorry we can't do more."

When Élodie looked back up there were wet streaks down her cheeks. Daniel traced his finger over one and then the other, willing her to believe in his goodwill - hoping she wouldn't hate them for what was happening.

"You really mean that?" Her voice was barely above a whisper. When he nodded earnestly she smiled. "You are unlike any American I've ever known – I thought they were all more like your Colonel."

Daniel grinned and looked towards Jack, grateful they were speaking in French so the Colonel couldn't understand. "I know… but he's not that bad, I promise. I've been breaking him in for years now. He's almost human!"

Jack suddenly realized that Daniel and Élodie were looking in his direction, giggling at their own private joke. To his horror, he saw that Sam also seemed to be in on the joke.

"What are you smirking at? What are they saying?" This whole foreign language thing was starting to annoy the air force colonel.

Sam was smiling in Daniel and Élodie's direction, not actually knowing what was being said between them, amused nonetheless. "Oh it's nothing important sir." She turned back to look at Jack, wondering why exactly she'd reverted to saying 'sir' again. "Let's just say… I think I know why the elderly Madame Chabrol was so thrilled to see Daniel when we first met her."

"Huh?" It took a couple of seconds for these words to have an impact on O'Neill. "Oh… right…" He directed a sidelong glance in Daniel's direction, muttering "Go Daniel!"

"What was that, Jack?" Daniel was pulled from the virtual bubble he had been in with Élodie to see both Sam and Jack looking at him.

Jack tried his best to look innocent while Sam maintained a perfect poker face, not giving anything away. "Sorry Daniel? Oh right, I was just saying that maybe you and Élodie should go up front and drive for a while – I'm pretty beat."

"Sir," Sam interjected, "Maybe I should go up front, Élodie probably needs her rest after being knocked about."

"_Non, non, ça va_. I'm ok," Élodie protested, having understood the last exchange. "I will stay with Daniel. It is better." She looked to Daniel with hope in her eyes, the relief visible in her body language when he nodded in agreement.

"It's ok guys," he helped her up and directed her towards the cabin up front. "If you like we'll take Teal'c up here with us, just in case there's another roadblock – we might not be so lucky next time."

"Oh no Daniel you'll be squashed up there-" Sam didn't finish the rest of her sentence before she was cut off by O'Neill.

"Good plan Daniel, Carter and Me'll chill in the back here for a while." His eyes locked briefly with Sam's, but he continued, in Colonel-mode, before she could protest. "Let's get a move on before someone else comes along. T, help me move these trucks."

Outskirts of Toulouse, France

Sam and Jack were resting somewhat uncomfortably in the back of the truck in opposite corners. Jack stole a glance at his companion to see her still staring into the space in front of her, apparently disconnected from reality. He didn't understand what was wrong. He'd thought after their talk in the front of the truck… they should have been sitting _together_ in the back of the truck making the most of the situation. Instead, she had distanced herself both physically and mentally from him the instant they had clambered in.

He relaxed the muscles in his neck and rested his head against the wall behind him, closing his eyes. It was tearing him up that she was avoiding him. He couldn't help but wonder what her true feelings were, whether it had been a colossal mistake to bear his soul earlier by admitting his feelings. Grunting with dissatisfaction, he snapped his eyes open and moved purposefully to sit down in front of Sam un-yielding gaze.

"Ok, what's going on." He asked, his tone lending more towards an order than a question. "I've done something to piss you off, Carter, what is it?"

Faced with her continued silence, he was forced to adopt a more conciliatory tone.

"Sam?" he began gingerly, "Are you ok? Please talk to me, tell me what's going on?"

Sam tried to remain in her detached state but found her eyes focusing on the man sitting in front of her; she couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt when seeing the concerned look on his face. She didn't know what to say to him. His outburst when she had been restrained earlier had just confirmed her qualms about developing a relationship with him – it was dangerous. If they were unable to act and react objectively, they were both going to get killed.

"Come on Sam, please?" Sam let her head drop between her knees, more to avoid his gaze than anything else, before responding.

"Jack… Sir…" She felt his breath catch in his throat as she broke the silence. "I think we need to keep our distance, be professional."

Jack's heart sank as he heard the words come out of her mouth. His heart immediately sank somewhere around his toes and he pushed himself away from Sam, looking intently at the floor of the truck. He couldn't believe what he was hearing – the woman he had been lusting over for so long was rejecting him.

"God I'm sorry Sam." His voice was coarse. "I shouldn't have… Back there when I was driving, and at the base in Spain… I'm just sorry."

Sam looked up sharply, realizing his misinterpretation of what she had said. He was acting as if she was rejecting him outright. It hadn't occurred to her that he might be in doubt of her feelings for him, especially after the previous couple of days, what with the older Élodie's words of encouragement, their newfound general intimacy and especially the stolen kisses. Reaching her hand out gingerly she placed it on the tip of his shoe, attracting his attention.

"Let me finish, _Jack_." She tried to gather all the thoughts in her head into a coherent speech. "I think we need to be professional _for the moment_. The way you flew off the handle at that guy holding me could have got us all killed; and it wasn't the first time you've overreacted like that on this mission."

Jack tried to interject but she cut him off. "Don't get me wrong Jack, I…" she faltered, on the brink of expressing her feelings, "I… I'm not complaining about what's been happening between us over the last couple of days – you know that, right?"

Jack looked at her intently for what seemed like an eternity, considering what she had just said. She was right, of course. He had gotten completely carried away twice now, and apart from anything else it was mildly insulting to her – considering her exceptional abilities as a soldier. As for 'them', he didn't want anything more in the world than to kiss her right then and there, but held himself back, wary of her reaction.

"You're right Sam." Jack chose his words carefully, admitting his wrongdoings had never been easy. "You're one of the most capable soldiers I know. I shouldn't be launching myself at people who are less than friendly towards you; I mean, that happens on almost every mission to one of us at least, right?" He regained some hope as he saw her lips curl into a smile. "I'll do my best not to overreact from here on in, ok?"

Sam felt completely taken aback at what he had just said. She had always known that Jack was a gentle man, but had never really been witness to this side of him. Sitting opposite him with the sincerity so evident in his body language, she couldn't help but be drawn to him. Shifting towards him on the floor of the truck, she reached her hand up so it was resting on his cheek.

"There's no sense in denying our feelings." Her thumb lightly caressed his cheek, causing him to sharply draw in a breath. Sam continued to speak, privately satisfied with this reaction. "But we have to try not to let them affect us in exactly this kind of situation."

She paused as his hand reached up and his fingers closed in loosely around her wrist, directing her hand towards his lips, which feathered her fingers with a light kiss. Sam was powerless to speak or move, mesmerized by the sight of the one man she wanted more than anything in the world slowly making his way up her arm with his soft lips. Unable to stop herself, she felt tears welling in her eyes and a small whimper escaped.

Jack stopped what he was doing as soon as he heard it. She was starting to cry. He withdrew from her but didn't remove his hand from hers.

"Sam, I don't want to do anything to hurt you. Ever." He spoke softly, but could tell she was paying close attention to every word. "We can finish this mission, and then consider our future when we get back to the SGC in our time, ok?"

He started to move to the other side of the truck but was stopped by two arms that suddenly wrapped themselves around his torso, the accompanying head burying itself in his chest. Startled by Sam's sudden launch he at first didn't move, but soon enough encircled her with his strong arms, comforting her although he didn't know exactly why. She looked up at him and smiled weakly before pressing her lips against his in a tender heartfelt kiss. He returned the kiss without hesitation, opening his mouth to allow his tongue to venture into hers. Sensing no disapproval on her part, his hands brushed over her clothes to find the opening at her waistband and were soon caressing her back and sides without abandon, venturing playfully under her bra.

Jack broke off the kiss momentarily to look at the woman in front of him. "Sam, if you don't want to do this…" He could feel his libido screaming at him in disgust as he was saying these words, but for the moment was still in control – perhaps it was better that they held off for the time being.

Sam looked at her CO groggily, still shivering inwardly at the sensation of his warm, rough hands on her smooth skin. She had been angry at him not 15 minutes ago and definitely didn't want things to get out of hand, but was still painfully aware of the fact that here, holding her, was the man she had lusted after for god knows how long. Rather than reply to him with words, she just smiled mischievously and snaked her arms under his shirt to even the stakes somewhat. She saw the look in Jack's eyes change from concern to desire as she playfully tickled his abdomen, before his face moved towards hers once more, and they resumed their passionate embrace.

There was now nothing holding them back. Sam tugged Jack towards her as she slowly lay back on the floor of the truck, doing her best to remove his shirt at the same time. He obliged by lifting his arms above his head and disengaging himself from her embrace for the time it took. As soon as he was liberated from his shirt, Sam moved her hands across his chest before pinning him to the ground and placing small kisses from the collar bone down to his navel, and then dangerously close to the top of his pants. She could feel the muscles tense as she proceeded on this path, and groaned herself as she heard him do the same. Stopping short of undoing his pants, Sam returned to find his lips again, this time with more urgency and passion than she would ever have thought possible. He had moved his hands so they were now within her bra, and she felt her breath catch with little hic's as his thumbs passed over her nipples. Disengaging herself quickly and sitting up she removed her top before returning her lips to his.

With the obstacle of her top and bra removed, Sam's senses were heightened as every current of air washed over her skin. She longed for him to caress her, to kiss her skin, as she did his, and so rolled over onto the floor of the truck pulling him towards her. He got the message and transferred his mouth from hers to her collarbone, where his gentle kissing caused her to sigh with pleasure, before he moved to first one breast, and then the other, his hands lightly brushing over her abdomen at the same time. Sam could now feel his desire for her against her leg and could no longer wait. Grabbing his head she forced him to stop briefly to look at her.

"I want you… now." She whispered, her voice husky. With that she kissed him again, while liberating him of his pants, before quickly disposing of her own on the ground next to them.

* * *

Sam lay comfortably with her head resting on Jack's chest, the jolts caused by the bad state of the roads in the south of France cushioned by his body. Realising that in the circumstances he probably wasn't quite as comfortable as she was, she raised her head and moved to balance herself on her arm, looking into his eyes. 

"Mmm.. Don't get up, you're keeping me warm." Jack mused in a lazy voice. He was still relishing in the sensation of her body against his, to hell with regulations. "Come back here. I don't want to let you go just yet – who knows when we'll get to do _that _again."

"Jack, aren't you uncomfortable, what with the truck bouncing into a pot-hole every 2 seconds?" She teased, well aware that he wasn't yet entirely coherent at this point.

Before Jack had the time to think of a sufficiently witty response, the radio crackled into life with Daniel's voice on the other end.

"Hey Jack? Sam?"

Jack groaned, unwilling to return to the reality of their situation. Sam, however, was more tuned into it and reached for the radio under a pile of clothes. Trying to ignore the fact that she was naked, with an equally naked and decidedly sexy man next to her, she spoke.

"Yeah Daniel, how's it going up front?"

"Fine, we just thought we'd let you know that we're nearly there. Probably about 15 minutes out? The arrival shouldn't be too hostile, but we're definitely going to make an entrance people will remember, so we should be ready for anything."

"Ok Daniel, thanks for that. At least we're only going to the _Banlieue_. We'll see you soon."

"The 'bon-what'?" Jack was still lying on the floor of the truck but was now at least looking at Sam as she placed the radio on the floor next to her.

"The _Banlieue_. It's kind of the outskirts of town-"

"So why not just call it the 'outskirts'?" Jack was teasing her, and she knew it, but couldn't resist reacting anyway.

"Cities are constructed differently in France," she began, sighing with resignation. "Most of them used to have defensive walls around them; everything outside the wall is known as the _banlieue_, but now the cities extend far beyond these walls and so even if you live on the outside, you can be quite close to the centre of town.

"So?" Jack was being difficult, he knew it, but couldn't resist exasperating Sam.

"So.." she began, before reconsidering. "Fine, we'll just call it the outskirts." She rolled her eyes before retrieving her clothes, before playfully throwing Jack's shirt onto his head.

"Time to move, _sir_," she smirked, shifting her weight as she pulled her shirt over her head. "We'll be at the _outskirts_ of Toulouse soon and I don't think the locals will react well if we're naked when we get out of the truck."

Sam wasn't at all prepared for the reaction she got to these words. Jack suddenly jumped off the ground without saying a word, his eyes and mouth wide open. Before Sam could protest or ask him what was going on he reached forward and grabbed at her leg, pulling it to the side to reveal the radio now underneath it. Upon shifting her weight she had inadvertently knelt on the radio. Throwing the radio to the other side of the truck he turned to look at her, eyes still wide.

At first she didn't get it, but soon her eyes were also wide open. "Do you think it was transmitting?" she asked shakily.

They both slowly turned their head towards the radio, as if it was about to leap up from where it lay and attack them. It suddenly crackled causing them both to jump.

"Major Carter," Teal'c voice resonated over the airwaves. "Daniel Jackson wishes me to tell both you and O'Neill that it is in fact quite cold outside, and that extra clothing may be necessary."

Neither Sam nor Jack could speak, but instead both continued getting dressed frantically. It was obvious that Daniel and the others had heard them. Jack was still getting dressed when he heard Sam starting to laugh.

"What's so funny?" He demanded, somewhat brusquely.

Sam looked at him, giggling between words. "Come on sir, you've got to see the humour of the situation. Imagine if the situation had been reversed and we'd heard our teammates in the back talking about being naked!"

"For starters I'd be slightly surprised to discover Teal'c and Daniel were gay…" the Colonel began, his eyes twinkling with mischief. This just caused Sam to start laughing again.

"You know what I mean," she hiccupped, calming down. "I mean, come on, it's only Daniel and Teal'c. They're going to tease us mercilessly for the next little while, but it's not as if we were going to be able to hide this from them, right?"

Sam's expression abruptly changed as she became insecure. Maybe he wanted to hide their relationship… she looked to him, searching for the answer.

Jack saw the uncertainty in her eyes and swooped in to wrap his arms around her. "Of course not," he murmured into her hair, "the sooner they know the better. In fact, I think they probably knew before we did." He sighed, breathing in deeply, relishing the sweet scent in her hair. "I just hope we can tell everyone someday, back in our time."

Sam sighed, comfortable in his embrace. "Let's not think that far ahead – we're a loooong way from home right now." _Denial is a great thing, _she thought to herself, _if only. _

At that moment the truck came to a stop. The two of them quickly disengaged from each other and waited for Teal'c to open the back doors from them. Sam could hear voices outside, presumably that of the contact they were there to meet.

"_Mais c'est quoi tout ça! _What's all this?" the gruff French voice filtered through the walls of the truck, sounding thoroughly stunned. "Élodie? What on Earth are you doing here?"

To be continued…

_A/N: Ok so this story is progressing slower than I thought… but I wanted to have a real chance for some Sam/Jack time! I promise the action'll really start in the next instalment. On that note, it'll probably be a week or so before it's up. I have _mucho travail _to do this week for uni. __Please review!_


	5. Love and Betrayal

_A/N: After the longest hiatus on record, I've come back to this! If you've made it this far, thank you SO much for reading the first 4 LOOOONG chapters that I wrote when I was still VERY new to this whole fanfic thing. I've got a few stories under my belt now so hopefully there's some improvement that's obvious. On the same note, I hope I've managed to keep the feel contiguous with what I was writing five months ago!_

_Thanks to _Shiny silver grl_ for prompting me to come back to this. And MASSIVE thank you to _Bookworm_ who has just been instrumental in my writing (bet even she didn't know that…). She pointed out that a lot of the S/J in this was more lust than love. I just want to underscore for people that in my mind, although WE_ _all know that they looooooooove each other, THEY don't actually know yet… or they haven't admitted it to themselves, let alone each other. So before I can talk about the 'love' thing between them, they need to have a kinda realization or some such thing… Happily enough for _Bookworm _(and you guys I hope), there's some realisation afoot…_

_Please review, as I'm used to getting reviews for my other fics and will be crushed if none of you care! (worse still, if no-one's even reading…)_

**Part 5 – Love and Betrayal (but not necessarily in that order)**

* * *

_Banlieue_/outskirts of Toulouse

Daniel looked uncertainly from the man standing outside the truck, to Élodie, who was sitting beside him. It seemed as if her ex was none too happy to see her, and this made him feel uneasy. He caught Teal'c's eye, who merely raised his eyebrow, presumably to indicate that he too felt it prudent to proceed cautiously.

Their plan for going to Toulouse was filled with holes, and he knew it. The man standing in front of him was an ex-colleague of Élodie's who had left the French stargate project in extremely unfavourable circumstances: apparently he had been in love with her and heartbroken when she refused to marry him. Now a professor at the university in Toulouse, he was well placed to help them. Elodie had explained that as a staunch member of the Radical party, a centre-right party supportive of the fight against fascism, he should be receptive to their mission. It was also fortuitous that the Minister of the Air, Pierre Cot, was a representative of the same party. Hopefully this would allow them to procure an aeroplane capable of transporting the gate. Looking to Élodie again for his approval, he cleared his throat and addressed the startled looking man standing in the driveway.

"_Bonjour Monsieur_," he began in French, "I realize that we have never met, however Mademoiselle Chabrol here informs me that you are the person in the best position to be able to help us. My name is Daniel Jackson, and my friends and I are on a very important mission concerning the defense of your country against the fascist threat." He paused to gauge the man's reaction, who seemed incapable of speech in face of the situation. "We have in the back of this truck the great ring that you and Mademoiselle Chabrol were studying at the university at Brest – it was stolen a week ago by fascist forces who had transported it to northern Spain. We are attempting to transport it to the north of France where it can be used to defend your country against attack."

He stopped talking, seeing that too much information would only serve to push the man in front of him to do something rash. Instead he turned to Élodie and motioned for her to speak.

"_C'est vrai Philippe._ Daniel Jackson is sincere in his words." She spoke uncertainly, imploring the man to open himself to the possibility of helping them. "We have to hide from those dissidents who may try to steal the device again. May we stay here tonight while we determine how to proceed?"

Philippe considered the sight before him in disbelief. A woman he had not seen in many months appearing on his doorstep with what appeared to be an American soldier. This had definitely not been what he expected when the truck turned into his driveway. He looked to Élodie and then to her companions in the truck, unable to coherently form a plan of action. A pat on his back brought him back to earth.

"_Ça va Philippe_? Friend or foe?" One of his colleagues looked suspiciously at the truck which had just appeared, apparently without adequate explanation.

"_Ouais_, yeah it's just a delivery from my old lab I forgot about." The words were out of his mouth before he realized what he was saying. "These are colleagues of mine from Brest. They are all welcome, understood?"

Philippe could see the suspicion in the eyes of his colleague. Trying to push his own suspicions to the back of his mind – he could question Élodie later – he gave a decisive nod to the man standing next to him.

"This is a very sensitive consignment. I need you to instruct the others to stay away from it – understood?" No matter the true nature of the ring, it would not do to have its presence in Toulouse leaked to the wrong people.

Élodie had been watching this exchange anxiously. Although she had assured Daniel that Philippe would help them, it had been some time since she had seen him and the situation in Toulouse was volatile. There was no real way to tell if he was on her side still.

"_Oh merci Philippe, on t'expliquera tout_. Thank you, we'll explain everything." She spoke quietly so as not to attract the attention of the other man now moving away from the truck.

"You'd better," he whispered harshly, "Your arrival puts me in a very difficult situation and I don't know that I'll be able to keep your presence concealed for very long." Glancing at the large dark-skinned man in the truck, who appeared to be dissecting him with only his eyes, Philippe was becoming increasingly nervous.

Toulouse, residence of Philippe Coulomb

"Colonel Jack O'Neill, Major Carter, Teal'c and Daniel Jackson, I would like you to meet Philippe Coulomb." Élodie was standing between SG1 and Philippe, trying to bridge the obvious tension in the living room of Philippe's opulent apartment. "Philippe doesn't speak any English but I have already explained who you are to him. He is an old… acquaintance… of mine so I wish you to treat him with as much respect as you would me."

Jack stepped forward uncertainly, looking to Sam for encouragement. "_Bon.. jour_" he said shakily with a very strong accent, offering his hand to the Frenchman. He stopped when the man had no reaction, but rather continued staring at him with cold eyes.

"Uh, Carter?" he looked to her uncertainly, "Wanna give it a whirl?"

Sam took in a deep breath before attempting to gain the trust of the man standing in front of her. "_Bonjour Monsieur_," she began tentatively, "I know all this must seem extremely suspect to you, but we truly mean no harm and will be gone before we can cause you any problems with the authorities." She stopped, looking to Élodie for encouragement, before continuing. "I imagine that you are somewhat familiar with the great ring we have with us, although Élodie tells me that its true function had thus far escaped your team during your time in Brest?"

"_C'est correct_. That's right" Phillippe spoke hesitantly, his eyes darting from face to face before lingering on Élodie, becoming impatient.

Sam looked to Daniel and spoke quickly in English. "Does Élodie think we can trust him with the real story, or should we go for the 'weapon' charade?"

Daniel looked quickly from Sam to Jack. "I think it's better we tell him the truth, he's studied it enough to know that it's not a weapon."

"_Mais enfin, on va me dire ce qui se passe ou quoi!_ Is someone going to tell me what's going on here or what!" Philippe's arms were firmly crossed over his chest as he tried to contain what was rapidly becoming anger.

"_C'est un engin de transportation, Philippe_. It's a transportation device." Élodie blurted out before anyone else could open their mouths. "The great circle. You remember the myths of Dana, god of light? You were right. They are based on reality and this really is the gateway to… elsewhere."

Philippe looked at his unrequited love, amazed. "_Il me faut un whisky_. I need a drink," he managed to mutter before collapsing onto the ground.

The next day

"Carter! Wake up!" Jack was crouching down next to where Sam was sleeping on a pile of blankets in Philippe's apartment.

"Hmmm… whaddayawan?" Came the sleepy reply. Sam's eye's fluttered open and she lifted her head slightly. Jack stifled a grin as he noticed the state of her hair – it was as if she'd been touching one of those weird static electricity thingos.

"We need to talk." He sat back on his heels, waiting for her brain to wake up sufficiently to comprehend what he was saying.

"At five in the morning? Are you insane!" she groaned, lifting her torso from the uncomfortable makeshift bed with considerable effort to consult her watch. "I don't think I can think straight let alone talk about how we're going to be court-martialed when we get back to the SGC."

"Not about that-" Jack rubbed his eyes wearily, his thoughts suddenly becoming clouded with the reminder of his precarious relationship with his 2IC. "This Philippe guy, whaddaya think of him?"

Somewhat relieved, Sam let her body slump back onto the pile of blankets, but opened her eyes fully to look at the man next to her. She could see from the look on his face that he was decidedly in "soldier-mode", his eyes were alert, he was poised to jump up in action if need be and he appeared to have been thinking – the lines in his brow were more pronounced than usual.

"Hmmm… well," he voice was still sleepy as she stifled a yawn. "I think to say he was shocked would be an understatement. It took a while for him to come to and only a strong whisky kept him from passing out again."

"That's what worries me," Jack spread out and lay on his side looking at Sam, speaking softly so as not to wake anyone up. "He seemed pretty irrational when you, Élodie and Daniel were talking to him. How much did you tell him anyway?"

Sam let out a long sigh. Repeating everything she said in two languages was starting to become a trial. "Not as much as we told Élodie, and not that we're from the future. I think he thinks we're aliens, and we didn't discourage that."

"You told him what!" Jack shot up to sit, momentarily forgetting that he was trying to be discreet.

"We didn't tell him anything!" Sam protested. "We told him the story that we were American forces helping to recapture the stargate from the Spanish insurgents, and that we had to transport it to northern France so that it could be reunited with the DHD."

"Then how-"

"Let me finish," she reached out to push the Colonel back to the ground, willing him to calm down with her eyes. She felt her hand linger longer than necessary on his chest but pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind. Closing her eyes briefly and taking a deep breath to refocus, she continued. "He saw Teal'c's brand on his forehead and started jumping to all sorts of conclusions. He studied the gate for a long time so I guess it wasn't such a stretch for him to believe, as Élodie came to believe, that it was a transportation device that led to other worlds."

"Well forgive me for being pessimistic," Jack looked over to the door, thinking he'd heard some movement. "But having some Frog thinking we're aliens is possibly not a best case scenario – wouldn't you say?"

Before Sam could come up with a response, there was a loud crashing sound and some far-off shouts coming from the courtyard outside the building. The door Jack had been looking at burst open. Teal'c head appeared in the frame.

"Colonel O'Neill, Major Carter – they are removing the Stargate!" He shouted before disappearing from view, presumably to try and do something.

Jack and Sam both leapt to their feet simultaneously and rushed into the main room to figure out what was going on. The sight they found was one of sheer confusion. Teal'c had Philippe pinned against a wall as Élodie was pleading with him to let the man go, saying it wasn't his fault. Daniel, for his part, was trying to restrain Élodie from getting in Teal'c's way.

"_Qu'avez-vous fait, espèce de crétin_! What have you done you idiot!" Sam shouted, moving swiftly next to Teal'c, causing the man to shrink further backwards with her piercing glare. "We come to you – your FRIEND comes to you – asking that you NOT contact anyone… what have you DONE!"

"_Vous êtes tous menteurs_. You're all liars," Philippe hissed back. "There's no way HE's American," he jerked his head towards Teal'c, "and no-one in the Radical or Socialist party leadership knows who you are… what's more, my men found CAGOULE orders among your effects in the truck." He was roaring now, struggling against Teal'c's firm grip. With a supreme effort he wrenched against the jaffa's hold, shouting in heavily-accented English: "You are traitors! Fascists!"

At this last word, Teal'c quickly headbutted the man and let him go. Philippe sank to the ground, unconscious. "He was not wise to call me a traitor," he said quietly, before turning to face the others, and stepping back so that Élodie could approach Philippe's still form.

Sam looked wildly from person to person as she tried to remain calm in the face of the veritable storm that had broken out over their heads. She looked to Jack, who seemed to have gathered the seriousness of the situation and was furiously ransacking the apartment in search of anything that could be of use to them.

"Sir, we've got to get out of here – NOW." Sam said quickly, pulling Élodie away from the ground and motioning for Teal'c and Daniel to follow her towards the door.

"I know Carter… I heard the word 'fascist'!" Jack, grunted back as he reached behind a cupboard, pulling out a gun that had been hidden there. "Ask her the best way to get out." He nodded towards Élodie.

The Frenchwoman merely scowled at Sam and seemed ready to murder Teal'c, so Daniel took over in a bid to regain her trust. "You heard what Philippe said," he whispered urgently into her ear in French. "We're going to be arrested unless we get out of here, and NOW." He grabbed both her shoulders and looked straight into her eyes. "He's not badly injured – Teal'c wouldn't do that – but we really need to leave. We'll have to figure out how to get the stargate back later."

Élodie had been struggling against Daniel's hold on her but she relaxed somewhat at his words, recognizing their wisdom. This was shortlived however, as she realized the futility of their situation.

"_Mais nous sommes foutus_, but we're screwed," she said breathlessly, her eyes wide open with fear. "There's only one exit to this building, and it will by now be blocked off."

Sam had been on the point of opening the main door of the apartment to the corridor but stopped in her tracks as she heard this. She knew that the windows from the main living room looked onto the courtyard below, and were therefore of no good to them. Her eyes flitted to the bedroom door, which was on the edge of a small alley. It would be some jump, but they would probably be able to make it.

"Sir," she said, turning full circle and heading towards the room, "We've got to go out the window – they'd just cut us off if we tried to leave any other way." As the five of them moved urgently towards their only escape, however, the door burst open and a dozen police wearing curious armour entered the room, rifles at the ready.

"_Les mains en l'air_! Hands in the air!" One of the officers shouted.

Despite the language barrier, there was no doubt as to what the heavily armed men wanted. Jack considered making a run for it anyway for an instant but a noise coming from the bedroom put a stop to any such thoughts. The police had surrounded the building and two men had just climbed in the window they were counting on escaping through. Reluctantly, he raised his hands slowly into the air, dropping the gun he had found, and motioned helplessly for the others to do so.

"You're all under arrest for conspiracy to a Fascist plot against the French Republic!" The same man barked at them in French. He looked over to Philippe's still body on the floor and added: "And assault against another person."

Police holding cell, Toulouse

To anyone looking at her, it would have appeared that Sam was asleep, propped up against cold and damp wall of the cell she and Élodie had been roughly thrown into some hours before. In fact, her brain was working overtime, under the cover of her closed eyes. She was thinking of all the possibilities – what could happen to them, what they could do, how they might escape, where they might go, whether they would _ever_ get home again and complete the mission – or, God forbid, whether they would fail spectacularly and doom the Earth to goa'uld invasion in the altered future.

She had no idea where the others had been taken to – it wasn't even assured that they were in the same prison as they had been put into a different truck. Sam tried to reassure herself – to remind herself that they'd gotten out of tougher scrapes; but then she didn't know if they had. Every mission they went on seemed to be sores than the last, the stakes higher, the demands placed on SG1 more and more profound. One day it would prove to be too much. She prayed that this day had not come.

While these thoughts careened around her tortured mind, she heard a muffled sobbing sound coming from the other side of the cell. Upon opening her eyes a sliver she saw Élodie, cowered in the corner, her knees hugged to her chest, repeating "It's all my fault" in French over and over again.

"_C'est pas vrai_. That's not true." Sam said quietly, but forcefully enough that the Frenchwoman stopped sobbing for a moment to listen. "I'm sorry I shouted before, you couldn't have known that he would betray you." She looked to Élodie with compassionate eyes.

"_Mais si_! But I knew he would treat you with suspicion – I knew he wouldn't be happy to see me!" Élodie protested, her voice again succumbing to loud sobs. "Because of my decision, your mission cannot succeed."

Sam slid across the rough earth beneath her until she was directly in front of Élodie, her face only inches away. "Our mission WILL succeed." She said doggedly, half-convincing herself. "Remember you've got three people from the future and an alien on your side – we'll think of _something_." As she said the words, her resolve grew and she realised that her statement wasn't entirely wishful thinking. The technology available in 1930s France was nothing compared to what they were used to – security was bound to lapse at some point. They would escape – they'd just have to bide their time until it was possible.

"I hope so." Élodie whispered shakily. "but it's not going to be easy."

"Maybe you can help us then?" Sam tried to look encouraging. "You must know a little bit of what's going to happen. For starters, are the others nearby? Or would they be in another prison?"

Élodie shook her head quickly. "Oh no they won't be in another prison, we're just in an isolated section of the _Préfécture de Police_." She answered with certainty. "I am actually surprised they let us inhabit one cell together – usually we would all be separated into solitary confinement."

"Ok, so that's somewhat good news." Sam nodded slowly, thinking out loud. "What about procedure? Are we going to be moved? Do we get food? Will there be an interrogation?"

"I really don't know." Élodie shrugged apologetically. "I have never been French prison myself… I think we would be best just to wait."

Sam spun around and slumped against the coarse wall next to Élodie, resting her exhausted head against the freezing stones. She'd forgotten how tiring it was to have to speak in another language all the time. On top of the general chaos of their thus-far thwarted mission, which would cause the strongest of people to succumb to exhaustion, she felt the heaviness of having to concentrate on too many things at once invade her now aching head.

Forcing herself to remain alert and focussed, her thoughts returned to the others, wondering where they were, whether they were alright. Teal'c would no doubt be stoic and strongly resist any attempts to compromise him, and Daniel would do his best to try and talk his way out of the situation. Jack, she felt a stab of painful concern upon thinking of him, well Jack would probably blurt out a series of sarcastic comments to the prison guards – who wouldn't even understand him. She winced in imagined pain at the reaction that would in all likelihood engender. The next time she saw him – _if _she saw him – he probably would not be at his best physically.

"_Vous pensez à lui_? You are thinking of him?" Élodie asked softly in French, bringing Sam back to the depressing atmosphere of the confined space. "_Vous l'aimez_." The Frenchwoman said simply, expressing the two words that Sam had never been able to admit, privately or not, in French or English, about her and Jack.

She turned her head slowly, still leaning fully against the wall, and looked at Élodie, who's eyes spoke of great empathy. Smiling weakly, Sam replied to her in French: "Yes, I think I _do _love him… it's just complicated." She felt tears coming to her eyes, expression of the sheer hopelessness she felt – at being captured (again) and at having to deal with harbouring entirely inappropriate (but increasingly strong) feelings towards her CO.

"_C'est pas compliqué, l'amour_. Love isn't complicated." Élodie smiled understandingly and reassuringly at Sam's distressed words. "_C'est tout ce qu'il y a de beau dans ce monde maudit._"

Sam smiled at the poetry of the sentence… the idea of love as representing 'everything that's beautiful in a doomed world' was so French – idealist and full of potential, without regard for the difficulties. She nodded in gratitude to Élodie before returning her gaze to the centre of the room and closing her eyes slowly. It was true, she loved him. She smiled slightly at the realisation, ignoring all the 'complications' for a moment, before she was overcome by an overwhelming ache. The way the mission was currently going, they'd be lucky to ever actually face those 'complications'. None of them would matter unless they managed to escape.

Little did she know it, a situation brewing in the centre of Toulouse was about to provide SG1 and their companion with an unexpected opportunity.

To be continued…

* * *

_A/N: I feel at this point I should ask if the frequent insertions of French are annoying too many people. I could do them in English, and just say that the character is speaking French, but it's a bit repetitious (and I like having the French there – it's my preferred language and I first saw the show in France, so all the characters actually speak French in my head - Jack saying "pour l'amour du ciel", which means "for the love of the sky" instead of "for crying out loud"!). _

_I'm asking now because in a couple of instances in this chapter I didn't immediately translate back into English (although I did eventually, hope I didn't confuse people)… if you could just let me know how you're all dealing with it, I can adjust if adjustment is required._


	6. Treachery and Heroism

_**This is a repost - I just fixed a sentence that was wrong grammatically and gave the wrong impression. Thanks to Shiny silver grl for pointing it out.**_

_A/N: Well finally I get to update. Sorry it's been so long, but its exams here so I've been madly studying/writing essays for the last two weeks! I finally got everything done though, and I am now officially finished with uni! Provided I pass (which I reckon I will), I'm going to graduate! Crazy._

_Thanks for the reviews, good to see a couple of people have come on board after reading my other fics… please keep with it and review if you haven't already so I know that you care (please review even if you _have_ already!)_

_I hope you like this one! Oh and warning for coarse language (in both French and English)_

**Part 6 – Treachery and Heroism (depending on your point of view)**

* * *

_Place du Capitol_, central Toulouse

Maurice Papon was sitting with his friends, listening intently to the wireless radio mounted high on the wall of the Toulousain café. His dramatic shock of greying hair fell unabated across his forehead as he concentrated on the transmission. The wrinkles forming in his middle age seemed to deepen in those moments where he learned of the latest atrocity. There had been a horrible act of persecution – a demonstration of the Communist tyranny that had overrun the State and all its vestiges of power. Five people had been arrested on charges of plotting against the Republic. He knew they must be, like he, advocates of order and progress through traditional means. He knew they must be victims of the Internationalist conspiracy against good Frenchmen; the conspiracy that was threatening to tear their country apart, leaving only a satellite of Moscow in its wake.

He knew that he must help them – and he knew he wouldn't be alone in that line of thought. Without speaking, he stood up from the small table, leaving some coins in his wake to satisfy the waiter. As he moved, he saw others like him rise to their feet, nodding curtly to each other – they couldn't risk anything public before they had a plan.

As he moved along the streets it seemed as if all eyes were on him – but then he had been increasingly paranoid in the last weeks and months. Despite the apparent weakness of the treacherous government that was slowly killing France, there was no sign of its imminent demise. To make matters worse, the Communist traitors were closing in on the noble forces of the right – the Cagoule was all-but dissolute. In all likelihood, he _was_ being watched.

Finally reaching his destination, a non-descript bar just across from the _Canal du midi_, a canal which ran through the northern tip of central Toulouse, Maurice allowed himself one more furtive sweep of the street surrounding him before stepping into the dim light of the smoky atmosphere. The bar was almost full, decoy patrons he knew well. It appeared that others had had the same reaction as he. Nodding to his good friend serving drinks, he slipped behind the bar and down through a trap door to the vast basement that lay underneath.

"_Messieurs_. Gentlemen." He said crisply as soon as he emerged from racks of ageing wine to face the core group of about 10 prominent industry leaders of the southern city. "I apologise for my lateness, however I was not nearby when the news got to me."

"_C'est pas grave Maurice_, it's ok," a man, shrouded in the shadow of the far corner, said with power in his voice. "Now we can begin in earnest, although I am sure you all know what it is I am to propose."

"We are enacting our plan of defence for our brothers?" a small man, sitting at what looked like a card table, spoke through the cigar that was perched precariously at the corner of his mouth.

"_Exact_." The shadowy figure nodded, before motioning to Maurice. "I trust you can gather the requisite forces for the morning?"

"We could even do so for this evening, Master." Maurice nodded curtly, the eagerness to please evident in his eyes.

"No no," the man swooped his hand across the empty space in front of him in an emphatic gesture. "This must take place by the light of day – for all the Communist filth to witness." He rose to his feet, moving into the dim light that shone from the ceiling. Uncharacteristically for a Frenchman, he was tall – over six feet in height. His light complexion and bristly flaxen hair contrasted sharply with the largely Mediterranean complexions of the men surrounding him. The authority he possessed caused every man in his audience to hold their breaths as their leader spoke. "Tomorrow, gentlemen, we shall demonstrate our disgust to the entire nation – and liberate our comrades from their Communist imprisonment."

Police holding cell, Toulouse

Jack looked up as he heard the cell door open from the outside for what must have been the 100th time since they got there. A whole night had passed – a cold, hungry, uncertain night – and now the new day was beginning. He'd spent the time thinking, turning everything over in his mind, plotting and formulating possible escape scenarios. Every time he came up against the same problem: Sam. Well, Sam and Élodie actually. No plan he came up with could work without knowing where Sam and Élodie had been taken. For the moment, he had to rely on Daniel's attempts to get information out of the guards.

Yet again, the man who entered the room spoke in an excessive cacophony of incomprehensible French. His nostrils and eyes flaring as he moved in first on Teal'c, who merely stared back at him. The brute then approached Jack, bearing down on him while he continued to should what Jack imagined could only be torrents of abuse. Jack stared back at the guy, gritting his teeth in an attempt not to retaliate. The men who had followed the guard into the office now had their weapons trained steadfastly on Daniel.

"Daniel," he growled out of the corner of his mouth. "Tell this guy for the _umpteenth_ time that I do NOT speak French!"

These words only elicited further anger on the part of the guard, who now thrust his forearm against Jack's neck, pinning him to the wall he had been dejectedly slumped against.

"_Ça suffit!_" a voice from the hall filtered into the room. "Whether they are German or not – it is evident they do not speak French."

"_Et alors? _So? A fascist is a fascist by any other name." The guard growled back, not loosening his grip on Jack at all.

"_J'ai dit – ça SUFFIT!_" the man repeated his command with more force this time, prompting the guard to remove his forearm from Jack's neck, only to shove him roughly to the ground before turning to look at the man who had entered the room.

"_Oui commissaire_, yes commissioner." The guard said hastily, having now seen who exactly had emerged from the hall. "May I ask to what we owe your presence sir?" he added after a moment of awkward silence in the cell. The prisoners were looking to each other with questioning looks on their faces – as were the guards even – equally confused at the appearance of the highly-ranked policeman.

Confident that order had been momentarily restored to the cell, Commissaire Lucien Gregoire cast a discerning eye on the prisoners cowering against the walls. He didn't understand who they were or what they were doing there – but he knew of no-one quite as reliable as Philippe Coulomb when it came to matters of protecting France against the varied security risks of the time. He trusted the revered Radical when he said these people were working for the Cagoule. It was in fact their connection to the Cagoule which had prompted him to appear in person at the police-station. It was imperative that they be moved immediately. Cagoule prisoners had a tendency of disappearing without reason. Worse still, news of their capture had somehow been leaked to the press and a crowd was gathering on the other side of the central _Place_ – behind the protective barricades that were now permanently in place in front of the precinct. it wouldn't be long before right-wing politicians came banging on his door in protest.

"_Vous allez les transférer à Paris_. You will transport them to Paris." Commissaire Gregoire said crisply to the men in the room. "The women as well – but only after I have had a chance to… interrogate… them," he winked to the guard standing over Jack.

"Like hell you will!" Daniel hissed to himself quietly before relaying what the Commissaire had said to Jack. Just as Jack was about to struggle in protest against their captors everyone in the room was shocked by a large bang, accompanied by a profound shuddering of the building.

"_Il est trop tard!_ Too late!" The Commissaire shouted, moving quickly back in the corridor. "You two with me – we'll get them out the back way." He motioned to two of the guards who had been standing on each side of the doorframe. "The rest of you, hold off the hordes!"

Jack didn't wait to ask Daniel what was going on or where most of the police guards had gone suddenly. The loud crash told him all he needed to know: this was their chance. Seeing that the head police officer was planning to shackle them for transport, he nodded quickly to Teal'c and, in unison with the tall Jaffa warrior, thrust his arm out, fist clenched into a tight a ball he could make it, knocking the guard to the floor.

"Go Daniel!" he shouted as Teal'c disposed of another guard, before moving towards the police commissioner who was now brandishing a weapon, about to shoot.

Daniel ducked down and skirted around the wall to the door just as Teal'c reached the policeman, who had fatally hesitated before firing. Teal'c grabbed the gun in his hand and latched onto his arm at the same time. He wrenched the upward before twisting it out of the man's hand, breaking his forearm in the process. Teal'c then shoved the man to the ground, knocking him unconscious against the wall.

"Let's get outta here." Jack growled as he brushed passed Teal'c, holding a gun he'd taken from one of the police guards now lying on the ground. The three of them moved quickly out of the cell.

Place du Capitole, outside the police headquarters

Maurice Papon had indeed managed to rally an impressive show of force, literally overnight. The large square, which usually housed the biggest market in southern France, was brimming with reactionary demonstrators intent on reversing the tyrannical injustices brought about by the Red Republican forces. The sun had only risen an hour before, and the morning light reflected off the western buildings' façade, giving an orange-tinge to the space.

The crowd had been greeted by hundreds of armed riot police, protecting the police headquarters. But the police could only do so much against such a dedicated force. At precisely 8am, the attack had been launched, and the first of many home-made bombs available to them had blown a hole the size of a large truck in the side of the police station.

The explosion had been greeted by a roar of approval on the part of the crowd and a roar of indignation on the part of the police. As he surged forward with the rest of them, Maurice smirked to himself at the complete disarray that was the riot police. They had seemed completely unprepared for such an explosion, and for the moment looked as if they were pawns without a master. The speed with which the crowd surged around the now gaping hole in the side of the building was no match for the small police contingent. They throwing of tear-gas canisters, and their spraying of the masses with water from a fire truck did nothing to assuage the onslaught.

The Rightists' orders had been clear, and despite the chaos of the mass of people, the directive not to enter the police headquarters was observed. Instead, the crowd massing around the opening formed a blockade against the police who attempted to dissipate them, and assured that no police attempted to exit. Maurice and his associates passed easily through the throng – they were identifiable by their distinctive hats that showed their status. Besides which, most people could recognise the famous Maurice Papon, patron of all conservative forces in the south of France.

Nodding to the men as he reached the barricade surrounding the headquarters, Maurice and four other men passed through effortlessly. Weapons at the ready, thick padding providing some protection against any bullets that may come their way, they entered the police station in search of their wrongfully-imprisoned brothers.

Police holding cell, Toulouse

Sam snapped to attention at the sound of the explosion. Within a fraction of a second, she was on her feet and at the ready, every body in her muscle tensed to perfection. Élodie had had a somewhat different reaction to the explosion, and was looking wildly around her in fear, pressed tightly into the dank corner of the prison cell.

"_Alors c'est vrai ce que j'ai appris_, so what I learned is true," Sam said, still listening intently the goings on outside their cell. "Toulouse really was one of the most reactionary cities towards the end of the Third Republic…"

"_Toute la France_ – all of France is reactionary." Élodie nodded timidly from the corner. That's why I tried to get help – the strength of the fascists is too great."

"That may be," Sam replied pragmatically, "but I think it's going to play in our favour this time – they're coming to our rescue."

"I don't WANT to be rescued by these traitors!" Élodie's eyes flashed with indignation, regaining some of the strength she had lost with the shock of the explosion.

"If you knew what I did, you'd be even more horrified…" Sam murmured under her breath. What was currently going on outside their cell was nothing compared to the atrocities that were going to be committed in the Second World War .

Before Élodie could ask what Sam had said, there were louder noises approaching them, hushed voices and hurried footsteps sounded in the corridor. Sam instinctively pressed herself against the wall next to the door, ready to surprise whoever came through. The figure that burst through the door with force was not who she'd expected to see.

"Maurice Papon." Both Sam and Élodie whispered in horror in unison. Élodie looked at Sam quizzically, if the woman from the future appeared just as horrified as she, then the man now standing before them, triumphantly, must really have done something awful – apparently he was remembered by history.

"_Allez, on en a répréré deux,_ ok, we've found two of them – go find the men!" Maurice barked to two of his companions. They nodded quickly before continuing down the corridor at speed.

"_Mademoiselle Chabrol_." He nodded towards Élodie, who had staggered to her feet, but was still leaning into the corner. "I never imagined that you might be one of us – the Bib must have great plans for you for me not to know of your allegiance to our cause."

Élodie dare not speak, for she knew of this man's notoriety and of how she and Philippe had cursed his name in private. He was the leader of all reactionary Right-wing forces for the region, and rumour had it he was deeply involved in many a terrorist plot against the Republic.

"_Et Madame_," he nodded towards Sam. "I don't believe I know you, however word has it you are the cell leader for your operation." He nodded slightly. "I salute you."

Sam had no idea where he'd got his information from, but found it quietly bizarre that she had been labelled the leader of their 'terrorist cell' – but then she was the most proficient of SG1 in speaking French, and Élodie was clearly a civilian. She decided to play to the assumption, and quickly assumed the role Papon had attributed to her.

"_Les autres_? The others?" she asked firmly, holding her hand out in demand of a weapon, which the man standing next to Papon gave to her unquestioningly.

"_Les voilà_. Here they are." A voice from the corridor said clearly. Everyone in the prison cell paused to see the two militia Papon had sent to find the men return, Jack, Daniel and Teal'c in their tow. "They speak only English or bad French." The militiaman added incredulously. "Are we sure of the information provided to us, boss?" he looked to Maurice, his mistrusting eye flitting constantly to look at the male contingent of SG1.

"_Ce n'est pas à vous d'être au courant de nos ordres_. It's not up to you to be aware of our orders." Sam snapped at the guard, engendering instant respect from her tone of voice. "The Red threat concerns people of all nations – and our mission requires specific knowledge that only these men possess." There was no sense in revealing that she too wasn't a native French speaker.

Maurice had been watching the prisoners carefully during this exchange. The news that they were Anglophones was certainly troubling, but the look of relief on Élodie's face at seeing the men enter the cell – as well as the look of tenderness that the man with glasses gave her – convinced him of their allegiance to the right cause.

"_Ta gueule!_ Shut it!" he hissed at the guard who has questioned them. "They are with us and the Bib places his imminent trust in them – I have seen the order."

Sam inwardly sighed in relief, the forged documents they had organised in Spain may have resulted in their capture, but they were serving to ensure their escape as well. Thinking quickly, she took control of the situation again – it appeared that Papon was waiting for her to do so.

"_Faut y aller_. We need to go," she snapped quickly. "I trust you have an escape plan and cover?"

"_Bien sûr_, of course." Maurice nodded curtly, motioning to his companions to lead them out of the building. "We've got a secure location nearby where we can talk and salvage your mission – hopefully that Republican scourge Coulomb hasn't fucked everything up."

"We had reason to want to use him." Sam protested, sensing the note of disdain in Papon's voice. "He shouldn't have been aware of Élodie's true allegiance – they were once lovers." She tried to ignore the look on Élodie's face – it was essential that they kept up the charade.

As they moved quickly down the corridor, flanked by the eminently capable militia men, Sam caught Jack's eye. He merely raised his eyebrows but didn't question what was going on. She nodded to him in gratitude. Explanations could wait – for the moment, they were getting out of there.

Elsewhere in the station

Commisioner Grégoire roared in frustration as he regained consciousness. He leapt to his feet, ignoring the screeching pain in his right arm and hurtled into the corridor, which was now full of officers running to and fro. The consensus shouts that were ringing throughout the building were not good. "_Ils se sont enfuis!_ They've escaped!"

"_Putain de merde_! Fucking hell!" the Commissioner cursed to himself, running down the corridor. He was moving towards the main entrance when suddenly a breeze and the sound of an angry mob to his left stopped him in his tracks. Looking to his left, down another long corridor, he saw an enourmous gaping hole in the side of the building. There were hundreds of protestors, armed with hand grenades, masks over their fasces to shield them from the tear gas. A thin line of police officers lined the opening to the outside world, but Grégoire realized that if the reactionary forces had wanted to overrun the station, they would already have done so – this had definitely been a rescue mission.

He looked hopelessly around him as officers made their reports of what was going on. The crowd wasn't advancing, but any attempt to disperse or pushed them back resulted in more explosives being hurled at the building. The army had been called in, but wouldn't be there for about an hour. Little matter, he thought to himself bitterly. Reportedly the most dangerous terrorists in the Cagoule had been allowed to escape in a barrage of fire. The republic was in grave danger. Turning back on his heels, he headed to the back entrance to make a retreat. He needed to call the Prime Minister.

To be continued…

* * *

_A/N: Ok, I don't know how I do it, but everything seems to be constantly getting more complicated! I've frequently made this comment with my writing… the thing is that in my head there's not just a story, but an entire UNIVERSE, and I'm trying my best to transmit that to you all without missing anything. _

_One comment about this chap: Maurice Papon was a real person, although obviously his actions in this are COMPLETELY fabricated. He was tried for Crimes against Humanity in the 1990s for his complicity in the deportation of the Jews from France under the Vichy regime during the war – not a nice guy. Sam knows this, and will prolly explain it in some way to the others at some point, but I just thought I'd let you all know._

_Let me know if anything seems not to make sense… I think I've managed to get it all together in a somehow cohesive manner, but then you might not think so! Please review anyway. I tend to struggle with action sequences, I dunno why – I just find them hard. So feedback would be well appreciated!_


	7. Exposed

_A/N: I know, I know. Been too long. I was once a frequent updater. Never with this fic – but I swear it's got nothing to do with the story, it's just the circumstances I'm writing it in. I'm now technically on holiday… and so just turning the computer on is a bit of an effort. Previously, fic-writing was my escape from study. It's still something I love doing, but I've been catching up on my real life in the last little while. I really can't apologise enough… I really want to finish this fic – I know exactly where it's going, it's just GETTING there!_

_Again thank you to my faithful reviewers. Glad to see you've found this, _Arrant Schemata_; I appreciate your input! Oh, and thank you SOOO much to _shiny silver grl _who pointed out a serious gaffe in my last chapter – I actually reposted to correct it (the sentence structure was backwards and gave the wrong impression at one point)._

_Also thanks to _Locathah_ for pointing out that I didn't actually have a disclaimer about the slightly AU aspect of the story. I've reposted the first chapter to include an explanation as to why they found the stargate in France and not Giza… please go back and have a quick look!_

_Ok. On with the show. Special mention as always to Bookworm who is just cool._

**Part 7 – Exposed and on the run **

* * *

Jack followed the burly Frenchmen in silence, aware that they in no way trusted him, Teal'c, or Daniel. Apparently, Sam was on good terms with whoever it was in charge, but through Élodie's body language he could tell that this was _not_ a good guy. They had exited the police headquarters only to be mobbed by thousands of jubilant protestors. The police had begun firing but apparently weren't authorized to use deadly force – they were only firing rubber bullets. 

Their rescuers seemed to have planned everything exceedingly well. There had been no pause once they left the building. The surging crowds provided excellent cover as they made their escape. The man talking to Sam was obviously well known – people made way upon seeing him – and they encountered no trouble as they moved steadily across the square, leaving the chaos behind them.

"O'Neill," Teal'c murmured under his breath, speaking just loud enough to attract his attention without arousing suspicion. "I do not believe we should place our trust in these people for much longer."

Jack pretended as if he hadn't heard anything, but quickly nodded his head, indicating that he'd understood. He moved surreptitiously closer to Sam and fell in step directly behind her. The group was walking quickly through the backstreets of Toulouse, ducking and weaving through alleys that probably hadn't seen anyone in a long time.

"You got a plan, Carter?" he asked quietly, while pretending to cough. He didn't expect Sam to answer vocally, but kept an eye trained on her for any sign of recognition. He kept a stern eye on the Frenchmen around them too, lest they become suspicious at all. He relaxed somewhat when he saw Sam turn her head briefly, catch his eye, and nod – hazarding a quick reassuring smile. Jack contented himself with relying on her judgment and slowly let himself fall back from her to walk next to Teal'c again.

Cagoule headquarters, Toulouse

The group of men slowly peeled off as the troupe exited a particularly small alley-way onto what seemed to be a bustling market street. Suddenly they were no longer furtively darting down dank filaments of road between tall apartment buildings. Sam looked around, impressed. The entire rescue operation was magnificently worked out.

"_Vous avez alors tout planifié_. So you've planned everything." She said to Maurice, her voice showing how impressed she was.

"_Mais bien sûr_, but of course. We would not have engaged in a rescue operation without a well-organised plan." He replied curtly, his eyes scanning the crowd to make sure there were no imposters in the artificial chaos. "It would do no use to reach our headquarters from such an obvious location as a dark alleyway. The best method for subterfuge is complete openness."

"And here, we're one of the crowd." Sam finished his sentence, nodding as she too surveyed the crowd, on the look-out for any apparent threat.

As she was doing this, she saw Maurice make speedy hand-gestures to some stall-holders as they walked passed. All of a sudden, those men started redoubling their loud calls, proclaiming the superiority of their produce. On cue, people began milling around them, obscuring SG1 and their escort party from view. Among the cacophony, Maurice and the two guardsmen who remained with them propelled Sam and the others quickly through a nondescript door behind the largest stall and the moved inside.

Inside

Jack ducked his head as they all moved behind a movable bookshelf and down an extremely cramped set of stairs. By the looks of it, the building and the secret passageway had existed for centuries. After a good 5 minutes' descent down the stone spiral staircase, they arrived at a large cavern, all the walls covered with wine racks filled with what he imagined would be excellent wine. The men accompanying them showed them to a corner of the room which was obviously set up for meetings, as there were numerous comfortable chairs and a small bar whence drinks were served. One of the men went behind the bar and started pouring what looked to be either cognac or armagnac. Jack welcomed the glass offered to him and nursed it in the palm of his hand, breathing in the alcoholic smell.

He kept his eyes sharply on everyone in the room, and looked around carefully, memorizing every inch of the space, every path for possible escape – the stairs they came down, and another tunnel to the left – and every object that could be used as a weapon. As he sat surveying the area, Sam was speaking quickly to the lead Frenchman. Jack decided that the moment had come to speak up, the French guys be damned.

"Carter," he said loudly. "Can we _now_ find out what's going on?" He raised his eyebrows as he spoke, his eyes darting quickly to gauge the reaction of the others. He ignored the bristling that characterized the guardsmen.

"They know where the gate is, sir." Sam turned to address the rest of her team. "It's awaiting transport at the aerospace research facility north of the city. Apparently it is slated to be transported to Paris for further study."

"Can we get it back?" Jack asked.

"They intend to escort us there sir," Sam began, before she was distracted by one of the militiamen.

"_Mais qu'est-ce qu'elle dit?_ What is she saying?" The man addressed Maurice, suspicion brimming in his eyes.

"_Ca ne vous concerne pas_, that's not of your concern." Sam hissed quickly to him, warning him both with her voice and her eyes. "I trust these men, as should you."

"_Et si je ne _vous _fais pas confiance? _And if I don't trust _you_?" the man challenged, unfazed by Sam's words.

"_Alors tu feras confiance au Bib_. Then you'll trust the Bib" Maurice snarled, taking a menacing step toward the man.

Jack heard this exchange, sensing the escalating tensions in the hideaway. At Maurice's last words, though, he understood enough to know that they needed to act.

"The _Bib_?" his eyebrows shot up as he looked to Sam with urgency. "That's the guy that we claim to be working for, right?"

"You were paying attention?" Daniel teased, trying to inject some light-heartedness into their situation.

Sam merely nodded, her eyes wide with the horror that she too felt. She quickly composed herself before looking to Maurice again. "_Il vient ici?_ He's coming here?" She asked guardedly.

"_Ben oui, _sure." Maurice shrugged, starting to get just as suspicious as the two militamen with him. Such a reaction was not befitting of a truly loyal fighter.

Jack saw the change in the French leader's body language and didn't hesitate to act. Neither did Teal'c or Sam. Within a second of each other, all three independently chose a different target and, with swift movements, knocked them to the ground.

Jack stood over the man he had knocked out with a wine bottle – which was now broken and had spilled its contents all over the unconscious Frenchman. "Sauternes, 1930." He mused, looking at the label on the largest shard of glass that remained. "Hope it wasn't a good year…"

Taking charge of the mission again, he turned towards Daniel, who had grabbed Élodie during their moment of action and was protecting her against the wall. "The danger's Dannyboy," he rolled his eyes in amusement at the sight before him. "No need to smother her." He grinned as Daniel blushed, moving quickly away from the wall and away from Élodie, although keeping his hand clasped in hers. "Right." Jack moved on and turned to look at Sam. "Carter, what the HELL is going on?" he exclaimed.

Sam spoke quickly as she bent down to each man, retrieving weapons and checking the area for anything else that could be of use. "That man," she began, pointing to Maurice, "is one of the most dangerous members of the Cagoule – that organisation I was telling you about. He orchestrated our rescue, since they believe we're on their side. He's a real piece of work – and will be instrumental in the genocide of the coming war."

She tried to word her explanation carefully, so as not to reveal too much to Élodie. If she had said that he would be instrumental in the transportation of French Jews to extermination camps, she imagined the poor Frenchwoman would not have reacted well. As it was, Sam was finding it exceedingly difficult not to put a bullet into Maurice Papon's head right then and there, but her common sense held her back. If it wasn't him, it would just be someone else giving those deportation orders. And at least she knew that he would eventually be brought to justice – even it if wasn't to be until the 1990s when he would be tried for Crimes against Humanity. She guessed it was like the old question: if you could go back in time, would you kill Hitler? It would be impossible to know the consequences of such an action. With a sigh, she grabbed some money out of the criminal's wallet and disarmed him completely before standing up and looking back to the others.

"Apparently he and the others were duped by our forged orders – but that won't be for long, considering they've summoned the Bib." Sam ran her hand through her hair as she considered that unwelcome prospect. "He'd have to know already that something's up – I mean, the documents were forged. I can only imagine he wants to interrogate us and get his hands on the stargate." She paused, covering her face wit her hands. "Sir, I can only apologise. This mission's gone from bad to worse and…"

"Ah-ah Carter," Jack said warningly, moving closer to her. "None of that is anyone's fault – let alone yours." He moved even closer to her, choosing to disregard the fact that the others were in the room. He clasped her hand tightly and whispered more urgently. "_Not_ your fault – got it? Besides," he moved back quickly and spoke louder again. "We're only at what, plan E? We've got the rest of the alphabet before we're _really _screwed!"

Although he raised his eyebrow, Teal'c made no comment at Jack's close approach to Sam. He looked over to Daniel and saw that the archaeologist was smiling knowingly. Determining the hour ripe for action, he spoke right to the point, as always. "I believe it would be fortuitous to recapture the gate."

"As always T, you're right on the button." Jack emphasized with a smile. "Carter? Can we get out of here and to this airbase?"

"Yes sir," Sam fell straight back into her train of thought. "Maurice was telling me about another entrance to this hideout... through some tunnel-system." She nodded towards the tunnel. "It's through there."

At that moment, all five of them heard voice from above, and the tell-tale creaking of the bookshelf on the ground floor being opened and shut.

"_On est découvert_! They've found us!" Élodie gasped in fear, going completely white with fear.

"That our cue people." Jack made a wide wave with his arm, leading them all into the tunnel. "And off we go into the unknown."

In the tunnels

As they ran through yet another dank corridor in the seemingly endless tunnel system under the town of Toulouse, Jack tried to keep everyone moving as quickly as possible. The voices, shouts, and movements behind them seemed to be muffled, but he knew they weren't far behind. Élodie seemed to be tiring, but he could see Daniel, hand placed on her elbow, propelling her forward.

As he nearly slipped over yet another slippery patch on the dirt floor that was steadily becoming muddier, he growled with frustration. "Carter," he snapped angrily, "when we get outta this, I'm gunna ring your neck for getting us _into _it!"

He didn't really mean it, and he knew she'd get what he meant. Their missions were never easy, but in all honesty, this was getting a bit ridiculous. One minute they were fascists, the next leftist nutters… either way, they were a target for half of France, and forced to operate in a crazy circular fashion that seemed to set them back at every turn. One step forward, two steps back, he thought to himself, coughing slightly in amusement.

"Yes sir." Jack had almost missed Carter's rushed statement, although he was positive that ahead of him she was rolling her eyes.

Before anyone could prepare for the change, the four members of SG1 and Élodie found themselves waist deep in water at an apparent dead end. Jack growled in frustration, the cold, pungent-smelling water seeping through his already uncomfortable 1930s clothes.

"Carter, we need a solution – and _fast_!" he said quickly, looking behind him at the dark tunnel, dreading the approaching right-wing militia.

"Sir, this couldn't just be a dead end – I'd imagine the Cagoule have been using it for quite a while." Sam said desperately, searching the muddy walls with her hands, feeling for any change. Without warning, she touched on part of the surface that wasn't at all squishy like the rest of the dank walls. It was damp, sure, but rock hard. Emitting a "Ha!" in satisfaction, she pressed on the stone slab from all angles until it gave way, swinging easily outwards to the left to reveal a set of stone stairs that rose to the surface.

She turned around to face the exhausted people standing anxiously behind her so they could see the triumphant gleam in her eyes from the now dim light filtering through the stairway.

* * *

Filing out of the tunnel system Jack immediately looked around for something to block it with. He immediately understood why there had been so much water in the tunnel towards the end, they were not three feet from a large river. At that proximity, it was actually quite impressive that the tunnels weren't completely flooded. 

The surrounding area appeared to be some kind of forest, which was surprising. He didn't think they'd gone that far from the centre of town. Apparently Daniel and Teal'c seemed to be thinking along the same lines. They were both turning around on the spot looking at the dense foliage surrounding them in complete confusion.

Sam and Élodie, however, seemed nonplussed by their surroundings. Seeing the confused look on her CO's face, Sam smiled before helping him collect a large log from a couple of feet away to throw it down the stairwell – hopefully to block the oncoming hordes.

"Relax, sir." She said with a grunt as they lifted the log, "we're still in Kansas, there's a large wood just to the north of the city at an ox-bow bend in the Garonne River – I'm guessing that's where we are now."

With a mighty heave, the two of them and Teal'c, who had come to lend a much-needed hand, lodged the log into the stairwell, making it extremely difficult to anyone who would want to pass through. Apart from its girth – which was impressive – it had wedged itself in such a way that it pressed the stone door shut. It would take a superhuman effort to get it open again any time soon.

Satisfied that they had a couple of minutes to kill at least, Jack motioned for everyone to have a rest, and they all flopped to the ground in one fluid motion. Élodie seemed completely spent. She was sitting against a tree with her head slumped on Daniel's shoulder. Teal'c seemed alert as ever, although he too had taken the opportunity to sit. Sam was making an effort to appear alert and ready for action, but Jack could see the telling signs of her fatigue both in her posture and her facial expression. He had sat right next to her, and reached a hand out to rest it on her knee.

"Nicely done." He said softly, looking at her softly. Her head turned slowly so she was looking into his eyes, a smile tugging at her lips. He smiled back at her.

"It's not over yet sir." She said, shaking her head slowly. "We've still got to get to the gate, get it and us to the north-west of France, and get home – and don't forget they _all_ know that we're looking for the gate now."

"Your point being?" Jack said ironically. "All in a day's work, right?"

"Sure," Sam smiled, placing her hand over his and squeezing lightly. "One _hell _of a day though…"

"Better get it started with then." Jack pulled himself to his feet with a grimace, trying to ignore the jolting pain in his knees. "How far to this airport then?" He asked Élodie slowly, hoping she'd understand.

"From 'ere…" Élodie replied in halting English, her voice portraying the fatigue she felt, "it is about two hours _à pied_."

"On foot, sir." Sam translated helpfully. "We should leave now if we're going to hope to get there before they move it or, worse, half the army gets there."

"I swear I'm going to demand _months_ of leave after this." Jack said to no-one in particular as everyone else got to their feet and they started trudging along the river bank to the north. "The world'll just have to save itself for a while."

To be continued…

* * *

_A/N: Phew! So this and the previous chapter were initially meant to be together as one.. but there was just too much action in them! I was feeling nice too… I could've left it at a cliffhanger when they got to the "dead end", waist deep in water, with militia approaching. Considering I've been a bit erratic in posting, though, I didn't think it quite fair. _

_Anyhoo. Next chap we're going to have a bit of time for them to rest (FINALLY) and you all know that means a little bit of character development. Don't worry for any of you who get frustrated with that – the action's never far away._

_As always, please review. Especially if there are things that don't make sense… Sometimes my grammar goes by the wayside (especially since I'm writing this in two languages… sometimes I forget to switch completely back to English and you end up with funny phrasing). But please review and let me know how you think the fic is going – I'm kinda afraid that it might be getting a bit stale or disjointed just because of the haphazard way I'm writing… _


	8. One step forward, two steps back

_A/N: Well, the updates aren't getting any faster… but I think I'm averaging every ten days or so… I'm currently working pretty much more than full time as I'm going to Europe this summer (which means January…) and so need the money. As a result, I don't quite have as much time as I thought I would. But hey, it's getting done, slowly but surely!_

_Thank ye all for the wonderful reviews… hope you can find it in your hearts to review again! And yes _bookworm _**I** think my reviews should be higher than bloody thirty-something too! But hey, as long as I know SOMEONE is reading! That being said, I'm usually a lot faster at posting… that may or may not be linked in some way to the number of reviews I get (hint to all those lurkers out there!)_

**Part 8 – One step forward, two steps back**

* * *

North of Toulouse

Jack had successfully restrained himself from asking "Are we there yet?" for the past hour and a half, but the sheer exhaustion of the entire team and the fact that Élodie looked as if she would collapse prompted him to finally pronounce the petulant question.

As the words left his mouth, however, Sam and Teal'c (who had been leading the procession close to the treeline in their rural surroundings) stopped still, both their arms raised to indicate that the others should do the same. The patches of trees around them as they had moved north had been growing steadily denser, but Jack could now see that not 100 feet away, the trees fell away altogether to reveal a vast expanse of largely cleared land. Standing perfectly still on the spot, his senses were heightened and he smelled the tell-tale fumes of Avgas – there were aeroplanes somewhere in the vicinity.

"I'll take that as a yes then," he murmured quietly, moving without a sound, passing Daniel and Élodie so that he was standing level with Sam and Teal'c. Far off in the distance, he could see a vast collection of army vehicles, their windshields glinting in the sun of the early afternoon. His heart sank as he recognized the formation in front of them.

"So I'm guessing the 'gate's still there… but so is half the French army?" It wasn't really a question, as he already knew the answer.

"That would appear to be an accurate assessment of the situation, O'Neill." Teal'c rumbled. "However it would be wise to verify the presence of the Stargate before attempting an infiltration."

Jack nodded, his eyes still looking to the horizon in front of them. Changing his focus to look at the area immediately before them, he searched hopefully for a place they could find shelter and rest at least until darkness. He and Teal'c would approach the base carefully, but it was imperative that Élodie especially get some rest. Sam could cover them.

"Over here sir." Sam had obviously been thinking along the same lines of Jack. Her outstretched hand pointed to a large oak tree. The trunk was so wide and the tree so old that there was a hollowed out space that was hidden from view to anyone approaching from the base. There was a convenient ledge from where someone could keep watch.

"Ha! I knew lady luck would smile on us _eventually_." Jack said triumphantly, moving towards the wooden cave. He stuck his head inside, his nostrils pinching slightly at the smell. It appeared that half the animal population of the area used the space as shelter at one point or another. For the moment though, there seemed to be nothing of concern in there, and he motioned for Daniel to approach with Élodie.

"You guys stay here with Carter." He said crisply, standing upright again. "Teal'c and I'll go check it out. Hopefully we'll be able to move sometime tonight.

"Sir!" Sam protested sharply.

"Carter… I don't want any arguments." Jack said without even really looking at her. "We need someone watching our six and you need a rest."

"O'Neill," Teal'c interrupted, looking contemplative, "I believe it would be wise for Major Carter to accompany you, should you have the misfortune to encounter any people."

Jack stopped and looked at Teal'c, blinking with confusion. He looked to Sam, who seemed to be giving him her best "I told you so" expression, and finally sighed as he realized the wisdom of the Jaffa's words.

"Oh yeah… the whole French thing." He nodded. "I'm telling you: I'll be glad when we're back on alien planets… it's so much easier – for the most part they speak _English_."

"As _unlikely_ as that may be…" Daniel mused to himself with a smirk.

If anyone had heard the archaeologist's comment, they didn't respond. Instead, Teal'c positioned himself so he was for the most part hidden behind the large tree trunk, and fixed his gaze on the area between him and the airbase. He raised the weapon he had taken from one of the milita men back in Toulouse up in readiness for action and nodded sedately to Jack and Sam that they could proceed.

* * *

Sam and Jack approached the airbase cautiously, keeping to the scant vegetation that was their only hope for cover. As they got closer, Jack saw with concern that whatever they did, it wasn't going to be easy. There appeared to be a strong and long-term military presence at the base which seemed well organized. Even as they patrolled, they definitely looked alert and on the ball.

"Damn. These guys look a little more impressive than the ones in Spain." He muttered quietly.

"How'd you figure that?" Sam asked incredulously as they continued their slow approach. Considering they'd been captured, beaten around a bit and threatened with death, she didn't see how the Spanish military would qualify as _unimpressive _in any way whatsoever.

"Well, for starters, they're wearing berets…" Jack looked to Sam as if he was saying the most obvious thing in the world. "Something about those weird hats just kinda creeps me out."

Sam didn't respond, but had to fight hard to suppress a giggle that threatened to erupt from her lips. She ended up smirking in a not entirely unsubtle way, looking away furtively so Jack wouldn't see.

For his part, Jack just looked back ahead of him as they walked towards their target, contented in the knowledge that he had managed to elicit a famous Carter smile and smirk – and even a suppressed giggle. He found himself grinning like an idiot and was glad that Sam was trying to hide her smirk from him by looking away.

The two of them continued walking for the next couple of minutes without saying anything. Their comfortable silence was fast transformed into one of necessity as they approached the outer perimeter of the airbase. There seemed not to be affixed fence in place, as if the perimeter had recently been enlarged to accommodate more facilites. Instead, the manned presence was considerable, and there seemed no chance to get passed them all.

Both Sam and Jack crouched flat to the ground, behind a messy outcrop of rocks that hopefully hid them. They sat and waited for something – anything – to happen. Jack looked at his watch, it was still only 1pm. They had a lot of daylight left to check things out, but so far nothing was really that encouraging.

At that moment, it seemed as if someone had flung a switch somewhere causing a frenzy of action. A short, sharp whistle sounded from one of the buildings and in perfect unison, all the men turned to towards that building and started marching toward it. Jack thought his jaw would drop off he was so shocked. To replace the men, only a skeleton crew came out – and they didn't look too happy about it. He looked to Sam to see what she made of this and was astonished to see she was clutching her side with silent laughter.

"Carter!" he snapped in protest. "What the hell..?"

Sam tried in vain to compose herself in the face of her clearly perplexed CO. What they had just witnessed was to perfect. The French had their quirks, but she never thought it would extend this far. She never thought for a minute it would compromise their security so… maybe it was just this section of the army… either way she wasn't going to question it – she was going to take any luck they could.

"Well?" Jack asked more patiently, as he saw the genuine amusement on her face.

"They've gone off to lunch sir!" Sam gasped. "In France lunch isn't a meal – it's an event. Even in our time schools still close down for two hours in the middle of the day to give kids the time to go home for lunch – and many workplaces do the same!"

"Hang on," as much as Jack wanted to, he just couldn't believe this was actually the case. "So you're telling me these idiots are actually going to compromise their security by putting on a skeleton staff for _lunch_? They don't do it in shifts?"

Sam had composed herself successfully and was now mirroring Jack's expression of disbelief. "I really do think so sir. That's the only thing that can explain it – and considering we're in France, it makes complete sense."

Jack shook his head, amazed that finally things were possibly going their way. "So how long are they going to be gone?"

"Probably an hour, maybe longer." Sam said, her gaze now returned to their target as she spoke. "Of course, the break for the evening meal won't be as long as this – but it might give us the time we need." She looked at her watch nervously. If they were going to do some reconnaissance work, they'd have to move soon in order to take full advantage of the time given to them.

"Ok." Jack said, his mind working quickly. He surveyed the scene before him and saw that now, instead of nearly a hundred men, there were only 15 guarding the complex. It was now or never. "Let's go have a look then. I'll cover you from here and follow behind. Head to the left over there, the sun's shadow should cover us behind those buildings as we approach."

Military airbase, Toulouse

Sam approached the base from the south-western end cautiously, keeping her senses heightened, searching for any sign of immediate danger. The section of the airbase closest to them housed a cluster of warehouses, one large one, which was probably the site of some experimental craft – and hopefully the stargate as well – and four smaller buildings that appeared to service the main structure. The soldiers had entered the closest building to her position, indicating this was where their mess hall was located. Such close proximity made her approach more risky, but also ensured that she would hopefully be able to hear what was going on given the chance to get close enough.

The men on patrol were pacing in their designated spaces in a lacklustre manner, obviously wishing to be eating lunch rather than guarding their patch. Sam could see how blasé they were as they patrolled, only looking ahead of them, and so turning their back on her position every couple of minutes or so. Each time the man closest to her did so, she assessed the danger posed by the others and advanced quickly across the ground. After three such manoeuvres, she found herself pressed against the building on the outer section of the complex, amazed at how easily she had been able to advance. She waited carefully and watched as she saw Jack performing the same approach she had just done.

As she waited, she could actually hear snippets of conversation from the interior, where it seemed the remaining forces were enjoying a hearty luncheon – apparently it wasn't just military-issue for these guys. She tried to ignore the gnawing hunger in her stomach and listened intently.

"_C'est pas étonnant_, it's not suprising," one man was saying, "that they haven't tried anything – they've only been at large for a couple of hours."

"_Ouais_, yeah." Another added. "And there was blood found at the scene – hopefully one or more of them was injured, causing a delay. I don't think they will get as far as here, they'll be captured first."

Sam smiled quietly. These guys were underestimating SG1. It would prove disastrous for them. Little did they know that one of their targets was only a couple of feet away, listening to their conversation.

"_Mais s'ils atteignent la base?_ But what if they reach the base?" the original voice asked, somewhat worried. "These are apparently very skilled warriors – they've posed as both Reds and Cagoule members successfully. Surely they pose a threat…"

"_Peu importe_. Doesn't matter." The snide reply came quickly. "The device will be in the air by midnight tonight and in Paris early tomorrow. Even if they reach the base, they won't be able to get in undetected."

There were numerous sounds of approval coming from many voices in the mess hall. Sam, for her part, smiled as well. They were now sure that the stargate was in fact at the base and, furthermore, that it was going to be there during the evening meal break that would surely come later in the day. All that was left to do was to find it now.

Jack approached Sam's position carefully and pressed himself against the wall next to her, surprised again to see that she was smiling.

"What is it this time?" he asked, "Don't tell me our luck's actually holding…"

"I don't know about luck sir," Sam replied quietly, "but I'm now sure that the stargate is here, and that we should be able to move during the evening meal – they don't plan on moving it until later in the night."

"Sweet!" Jack grinned, shrinking back into the wall slightly as the patrol came closer to their position, still oblivious to their presence. "However I think we need to move from here – one of these guys is bound to look in our direction sooner or later."

Without waiting for Sam's response, he started edging around the back of the building, stopping at its corner and listening intently for any sign of activity around the blindspot. Sam was close behind him, and he could feel the soft waves of air brush his neck as she breathed, silently waiting for any sign of danger. There appeared to be none, so Jack chanced a look around the corner.

What he saw pleased him intently and he strode confidently around the corner, ignoring the unconscious gasp from Sam. "Relax Carter," he hissed, motioning for her to follow. "See? We're completely hidden here. I don't think I've ever seen a base so insecure as this!"

Sam rounded the corner and saw that indeed there was next to know chance of their discovery from this angle – certainly not with a skeleton staff patrolling the area. The outer building they had been skirting around joined the main warehouse at the corner, making it possible for them to walk around without fear of being seen from the patrols on the southern end of the base. They had yet to see a patrol go by on the northern end, and in any case a couple of tanks would go a long way to obscuring them from view.

She followed Jack, who had moved up to the wall on the main warehouse and was now pressing his ear against it, trying to listen to anything. He pulled away and shook his head at her, indicating that he could hear no activity. Hesitantly, with Jack looking intently behind them to be sure that they weren't discovered, Sam moved to the small line of windows towards the mid-section of the wall and looked in.

Apparently lunchtime included everyone, not just those guarding the complex, as the warehouse was completely empty. There was a large aircraft which looked to be an early incarnation of a cargo plane, whose ramp was down, ready to receive its load. To her immense relief, just to the right of this, Sam saw the truck they had traveled in, and through the open rear door, could see the edge of the stargate and even signs of their equipment.

She looked down to Jack, who was still watching the space behind them intently. Grinning as she crouched down next to him, she gave him the good news. "Everything's there sir, and not a soul to be seen. As long as we catch them at dinner time tonight – we should be fine."

"Ah… no tempting fate Carter." Jack waggled his finger at her playfully. "No counting chickens before their hatched; no-"

"Overusing clichés, sir?" Sam cocked her eyebrow cheekily.

Before Jack could come up with a suitable retort, the sound of approaching footsteps caused them both to flatten themselves along the ground, shuffling towards the tank closest to them, which would hopefully hide them.

"_Mais je te jure_, but I'm telling you." A soldier was complaining, "there's no point in looking around here – if these traitors managed to get as far as the base, they'll be approaching from the south, _not _this end!"

"_Mais on ne sait jamais_, but you never know." Both the men were now clearly visible to Sam and Jack. They were walking lazily around the corner, weapons limp at their sides. They came to a stop before looking around them in a half-hearted manner. "In any case," the soldier continued, "I'm dying for a leak…"

Jack and Sam sat silently, their bodies tensed completely as they pressed themselves against the tank. They were looking at each other intently as they listened to all of this; Jack searching Sam's eyes for any sign of danger in the conversation she was hearing. She just kept shaking her head, indicating that they didn't have to move. Eventually, the men moved away, taking their conversation with them, and both members of SG1 visibly relaxed and Jack clasped Sam's hand.

"We didn't come all this way just to get caught." He moved to stand up carefully, pulling her with him.

"No sir." Sam was slightly breathless with both the relief that washed over her at the departure of the guards, and also at the feel of his coarse skin on hers.

"Let's get out of here – in stages." Jack gently led Sam so that she was ahead of him and, after giving her hand a light squeeze, motioned for her to go first. He retrieved the handgun that had been wedged in his waistband and set himself up to cover her advance.

South of the airbase

Élodie had been dozing on and off for the hour and a half that they had been hidden in the base of the large tree. Daniel was glad to see her finally getting a chance to rest. It had never been their intention for this mission to drag on so long – or to encounter so many difficulties. For someone with no training whatsoever, he was impressed with how well she was coping – especially considering the devastating information they had provided her with concerning the looming war (no matter how much they had carefully not said).

"Daniel?" A small voice interrupted his musings, signaling that Élodie had awoken again.

"_Toujours pas de nouvelles_, still no news." Daniel turned to smile at her reassuringly. "But I'm sure they're fine, and we'll hear from them soon."

"You have much faith in their abilities." Élodie said, still in French, smiling at Daniel.

"Well I've seen them do some amazing things." Daniel smiled back. "I know I can trust them with my life, and you should feel you can do the same."

"They are very dedicated, yes?" Élodie continued. "Not only to your team, but to each other."

Daniel smiled at what she was saying, he knew exactly where she was going with these questions. "Oh so you've noticed that, have you?" he said, his eyebrows high on his forehead.

"But of course, they can be no denying their affection for each other." Élodie replied, surprised. "Why do you sound so amused?"

Daniel shook his head and looked off to the leaves in the sky above them. It was amazing how people always saw what both Sam and Jack hoped was not visible. Here was this woman, who had essentially known them for only a matter of days, and she could see what they had refused to admit for years – it was only now that they seemed to have turned corner.

He smiled knowingly at Élodie, who was still waiting for an answer. "It's just that we've all known of their 'affection' for each other for years," he began softly. "However they've been refusing to admit to themselves for almost just as long."

"And now it has changed, yes?" Élodie asked, remembering her conversation with Sam.

"Apparently." Daniel smiled. "But it's quite complicated… there are rules precluding them from having this kind of relationship."

"But if it is love, then surely such barriers can be overcome?" The Frenchwoman protested, true to her country's romantic traditions.

"I hope so," Daniel mused, "they deserve to be happy."

Élodie accepted this statement, but her face still demonstrated that she was in deep thought. Her eyes flitted shyly to look at Daniel. "And you? Are you so dedicated to someone back in your time?" She was almost holding her breath in anticipation of his answer, and her heart seemed to be beating incredibly fast.

Daniel had sensed the anxiety in Élodie's question and felt her hand rest gently on his arm. "I was." He said quietly, looking to the ground as he remembered his beautiful wife's fate. "But she was killed by our enemies."

Élodie tightened her grip on Daniel's arm in sympathy. "For that I am truly sorry." She said quietly. Daniel turned his head to look at her in gratitude and they shared a smile just as the silence was broken by approaching footsteps.

* * *

"Whoa… easy T, it's just us." Jack said amiably as they emerged from behind the trees to face the Jaffa whose weapon was intently trained on them.

Teal'c lowered his weapon and nodded sagely to them. "It is good to see you are well, O'Neill."

"Good to see I don't have a bullet in my head – you cut quite a scary figure there!" Jack fired back in mock relief before dropping to the ground, sitting comfortably against part of the large tree root. He smoothed the ground next to him and cocked an eyebrow at Sam, motioning for her to join him. They sat together, resting their heads against the rough bark while relaying the intelligence they'd gathered at the airbase to the others.

"So basically, we're going to move at sundown and wait for the illustrious meal break before stealing the gate and all our gear from right under their noses." Jack summed everything up succinctly, bypassing the 'Carter-babble' as he liked to call it. Looking at his watch, he saw with satisfaction that they still had about three hours before sundown. "For now," he said matter-of-factly, "I think I deserve some sleep."

Without waiting for a response, Jack relaxed fully into the tree trunk and closed his eyes, draping an arm around Sam and pulling her towards him. "You too, Carter." He said softly, not opening his eyes.

Sam, for her part, settled gratefully into his side and closed her eyes as well, a faint smile gracing her lips. Had she left them open a split second longer, she would've seen a glint of light reflecting through the trees to the south. As it was, she and the rest of SG1 were unaware that they now had an audience.

To be continued…

* * *

_A/N: Ok, so we're getting closer. I know there will be some waiting for some definitive s/j action, but at this point it just does NOT fit in with what's going on! They're too busy trying to save the world for the moment… but if you've read my other fics you should know I won't ignore them for too long (I think this is the longest I've ever done so actually). It just depends on the story and what's plausible… that's my main concern._

_Please review… and if you're in the Northern Hemisphere, I hope it's not too cold… here it was 34C today (mid 90s F) – ahhh… summer…_


	9. Trust and exasperation

_A/N: Ok. Thank you to my three faithful reviewers_, shinysilvergrl, Arrant Schemata, and Bookworm. _The fact that you guys take the time to do such indepth reviews is fantastic and I hope I never lose you! Oh and I'm glad you liked my quip about language, _silver_, it's something that I always find amusing in the show – although they couldn't really do it any other way without it being kind of annoying to the viewer!_

_Ok. This chap character-oriented as forecast… hope you like!_

**Part 9 – Trust and exasperation**

* * *

Élodie crawled out of the bark cave slowly, stretching her aching muscles gingerly as she rose to a fully upright position. She saw Teal'c turn almost imperceptibly, acknowledging her presence, before refocusing his energy on the task of lookout. She was glad he didn't try to talk to her: it was intimidating enough speaking a foreign language to the Colonel, let alone trying to converse with the mountain of a man who was crouched in front of her. 

Looking around, she saw that the sun was low in the sky and the trees had adopted an orange hue, reflecting of the crimson sky to the west. They would be moving soon. Just at the thought, Élodie felt as if she might be sick – she'd had quite enough action and was longing for it all to be over, one way or the other. She rubbed her eyes tiredly, trying not to let any tears of desperation fall. As her fingers slid passed her eyes and she opened them again, she saw a strange reflection through the trees along the path they had traveled earlier. She had stepped a couple of metres away from their hiding place but now stopped completely still, frozen in fear.

She held her breath in anticipation, hoping that perhaps she had only seen a trick of the light. A couple of seconds later, however, she saw the glint of light again. It was all she could do not to let out a yelp of surprise and fear. Finally gathering her forces together, she moved to turn and alert the others.

"_Élodie_ _attends!_ Wait!" a familiar voice hissed. "It's just me – Philippe."

Philippe should have known better than to try and calm Élodie by telling her who he was. Without waiting a further second, she moved quickly backwards, still facing forwards, until she ran into the tree trunk, nearly falling over Sam's resting frame.

"_Samantha! Réveillez-vous!_ Wake up!" Élodie was pressed against the tree trunk, not averting her gaze from the area where she had first spied the glint of light. "Philippe has found us!"

Sam jolted from her comfortable doze against Jack's equally exhausted shoulder at these words and saw that Élodie was frozen next to her, looking out to the south, petrified. "_C'est celui qui nous a trahi aux authorités?_ He's the one who gave us over to the authorities?"

Élodie just nodded in response. He was the man she'd so wanted to trust, the man she'd asked to give them shelter for one night, the man who had subsequently given them over to the cops.

Jack was now awake, having felt Sam moving next to him. One look at Élodie's face was all he needed to know. He followed her line of sight to the bushes and saw, as she did, the small quiver of movement and reflection of light about 50 metres away.

"Teal'c!" he barked, while leaping to his feet in one instantaneous motion. He and the Jaffa advanced before whoever was hiding had a chance to move, and latched onto Philippe's shoulder as he was attempting to run away from them.

Jack hauled the Frenchman back to their hiding place while Teal'c checked the surrounds for any other unwelcome visitors. Shoving Philippe roughly against the tree-trunk, he then leant in menacingly on the man, almost growling with his dislike for the man. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Élodie standing unsteadily between Sam and Daniel, looking on.

"Carter isn't this the guy who turned us in?" Jack growled angrily, not moving a muscle from his menacing position.

"Yes sir." Sam replied, her tone of voice matching Jack's. She addressed Philippe, who was looking petrified under Jack's stare. "_Comment tu nous a trouvé?_ How did you find us? What are you doing here? WHO ARE YOU WITH?" She was shouting by the time she finished her line of questioning, the anxiety rising up within her as she felt Élodie quaking with fear.

While they were waiting for an answer – Philippe seemed petrified with terror – Teal'c returned to their position. "It would appear he is alone, O'Neill." He said sagely, although not letting his guard down. Despite this finding, he remained alert while the interrogation continued.

Jack took this information under advisement, nodding curtly, before bearing down on Philippe again. "Well?" he snarled.

Philippe looked from the man who was only inches from his face to the others, all of them looking at him with a mix of shock, anger, and fear. The sight of the American soldier looking positively murderous prompted him to respond finally.

"_Je… je… _I… Iamsosorry," he began, speaking so fast it was all Sam could do to keep up and translate for the others. "I really thought you must have been traitors and I was so angry with Élodie but after your arrest the Bib's men came and ransacked my house looking for information while I was out… they didn't know who you were so you musn't be in league with them… I heard they took control of the airbase and plan to use the device against the Republic! Any enemy of theirs is an enemy of mine and so-"

"_Et comment tu nous a trouvé_? And how did you find us?" Sam asked him, her voice still as piercing as it had been before.

"_J'ai entendu parler de la manifestation violente_, I heard about the violent demonstrations, and knew that you would come here for the device." His eyes were wide, appealing for any of them to listen to him and believe his story. "I have been here since mid-morning, circulating the area in hiding, trying to find you… and… and…" Philippe looked from person to person in despair, willing them to have mercy on him at least, even if they weren't going to believe his story. "Élodie!" His eyes widened in appeal, his voice choking as he fought off some persistent tears. "_Chérie excuse-moi… j'avais tort… s'il te plaît excuse-moi!_ Chérie forgive me… I was wrong… please forgive me!"

Silence enveloped the group small group gathered in the woods as each considered their position. Jack was loathe to trust any other outsiders in what would have to be one of their most ill-fated missions to date, and it was entirely likely that the idiot in front of him – despite his intentions – had led the authorities to their position. He looked to Teal'c, who was still canvassing the area but was yet to find any sign of other people in the vicinity, and then to Sam and Daniel, who were between them supporting Élodie who looked completely at the end of her tether.

He rested his gaze on Sam, searching her clear blue eyes for her take on things. In that moment of uncertainty he felt a pang of helplessness threaten to overtake him. He knew it wouldn't happen, but something inside just wished he could tell the French – be they Republican, Fascist, Communist or bloody _Jedi_ – to bugger off. In this frozen moment he wished that for once he could find himself looking into the crystal-clear eyes he was currently lost in without having to think about their immediate safety – let alone the fate of the world or even universe. He sighed inwardly, mentally pushing his hopes and desires to an unhappy corner of his mind, and raised an eyebrow, waiting for his 2IC's valued opinion.

"I don't know sir," Sam said carefully, realizing that all attention was on her. "_Élodie? Qu'est-ce que vous en pensez?_ What do you think?"

Élodie felt her breath shake in her throat as she tried to collect her thoughts and feelings, sorting out the coherent from the confused. She saw the despair in her former lover's eyes, but at the same time felt the warm touch of the sensitive American from the future who she was now clinging to. She knew she shouldn't let her feelings intrude on her opinion, but she inherently empathized with Philippe – and in a way she thought she understood even.

"_Je pense pas que j'aurais agi différemment._ I don't think I would have acted differently." She said apologetically to Daniel, not feeling able to face Sam – she felt ashamed. "You have to understand how insane this entire situation is – you coming from the future, in the context of the civil unrest in France, with the threat of German belligerence constantly weighing on all our minds…" she trailed off, afraid of everyone's reaction to her words.

"No-one trusts anyone." Daniel finished for her in English, nodding his head slowly with compassion.

"So do we trust him or what?" Jack asked with irritation – he was coming closer and closer to immobilizing this particular French pansy and leaving him for whatever wildlife that exists to devour.

"_Je peux vous aider!_ I can help you!" Philippe suddenly shouted, causing everyone to jump – except for Teal'c of course. "My old associate is still in charge of the aeronautical research unit at the base – should you encounter any difficulties he would certainly provide us with assistance."

"Provided there's an 'us' that includes you…" Jack muttered upon hearing Sam's translation of this latest Gallic outburst. "We don't really _need_ this guy do we Carter?" he said disparagingly. "Can't we just tie him up here and leave him for the army to find?"

"_Oh no vous ne feriez jamais ça!_ You'd never do that!" Élodie shouted out quickly, having understood enough of what Jack had said.

Jack ignored the French woman and motioned for Sam to step aside a couple of metres with him. He left Teal'c to watch Philippe and trusted Daniel could contain Élodie.

"So Carter," he said quietly, "options?"

Sam looked nervously at the Frenchman and back to Jack, who looked completely fed up with their entire situation, as she herself was beginning to become. "The problem is, sir," she began slowly, breathing out with her words, "I don't think we can in good conscience leave him here. Considering how dogged our pursuers are, we'd be sentencing him to imprisonment or worse."

"And if he's actually working with them?" Jack challenged, his eyes flashing with contempt.

"It doesn't matter _who_ he's working for, if anyone," Sam replied helplessly, appealing to Jack's common sense with vast arm gestures. "If he's working for the Republicans then the right-wing groups will hunt him down, and vice versa…"

Jack growled angrily. "Dammit Sam, this is fast becoming a freakin' circus – we can't keep picking up strays like this!"

"Sir," Sam began firmly, her eyes locked with his. "If he's honest in what he's saying then we've got nothing to lose – one more civilian is not going to make or break our plan…"

"And if he's not?" Jack began Sam's next sentence for her, raising his eyebrows in appeal.

"If he's not," Sam let her voice drop right down so it was almost inaudible, "then we've probably already failed."

Jack held Sam's stare for a few moments, postponing the moment when he'd have to acquiesce to her wisdom yet again. He knew she was right, but it didn't mean he had to like it. Finally nodding his head in assent and looking away from her he turned and moved back towards the others who were eagerly await his response.

"Ok campers," he said morosely, "he's coming with us."

Both Élodie and Philippe instantly slumped with relief at this decision and launched into hurried expressions of gratitude. One look at the expression on Jack's face, however, stalled this reaction.

"You tell him Sam," Jack said, his steely gaze fixed on Philippe, "if he's lying to us I won't hesitate to deal with him – _with force_."

With those words he stomped into the bushes behind them in search of a quiet area where he could think.

* * *

Sam had let Jack walk away from the situation, recognizing how frustrated he was. It was now almost 18.30 by her watch, however, and the evening meal – as Philippe had told them – would be either at 20.00 or 20.30. It was time they thought about moving. She and Teal'c had been discussing their plan of attack and she had sketched out the area for the Jaffa so he could prepare himself for their daring theft that was to follow later in the evening. Meanwhile, Daniel and Élodie had been 'debriefing' Philippe about his motivations and actions – as well as the details of their betrayal of the previous day. 

It didn't take her long to find Jack. She knew she would have heard him approach but he didn't flinch upon hearing her footsteps. Instead, he was deep in thought, obviously mulling things over while sketching scenarios for their mission in the dry dirt with a stick. He didn't seem to pay any attention to her until she was kneeling right in front of him.

"I hope that frog knows to stick to you and Daniel and not _do _anything." He said somewhat contemptuously, drawing yet another trail in the dirt diagram in front of him.

"Jack?" Sam decided not to react to his retort, instead looking at him with a glimmer of concern.

The tone of her voice and use of his first name caused Jack to disengage from his strategic planning and look up. Sam's voice was matched by her expression, and Jack sighed inwardly, realizing yet again that it was nigh on fruitless to try and hide anything from this amazing woman.

"God Sam," he looked away to his left, focusing on a far off tree, before finally tearing his eyes back to face her. "I'm just sick of it – sick of this country, sick of putting my ass on the line every minute only to have the entire population after us." He paused, before continuing so she wouldn't cut him off. "Every time we're out in the field, doing our best to help whatever society it is, and all we come up against is the fiercest resistance – from both our enemies _and_ our allies."

Sam swiveled around, carefully avoiding Jack's work of art on the ground, to settle next to him, placing a steady hand on his forearm before lacing her fingers through his and drawing his hand up to touch against her cheek. She softened her expression and looked deep into his eyes. "I know." She said simply. "And I know you know that we don't have a choice…" she paused briefly as he stroked the back of his hand, still clasped in hers, lightly against her cheek. "…but at the same time that it's worth it – otherwise the world as we know it wouldn't exist."

Jack smiled before pulling Sam into an all-encompassing hug, running his hand through her hair, enjoying the sensation against the coarse skin on his palm. "I just want a chance to enjoy the world as we know it." He said softly into her neck before pulling back slightly to look at her. "I want to enjoy it with _you_."

Jack saw Sam's eyes glaze over slightly as her breathing became rather more rapid than it had been a few moments ago. Feeling a magnetic-like force drawing them together, he let her lips touch his tenderly and enjoyed the sensation of once again kissing the woman he had grown to respect and love over the years. One touch wasn't enough, and he deepened the kiss, grasping the back of her neck with one hand and pulling her body closer to his with the other. He was startled to hear a guttural sound emerge from his throat, matched by a simpering moan from Sam, and forced himself to pull away, sure that his face had become just as flushed with raw energy as hers. Resting his forehead on hers, he moved his hands to cup her cheek and gently stroked the soft skin under her eyes with his thumbs.

Sam looked into the deep brown eyes in front of her and saw through all the bravado to the sensitive man that lay within. Smiling tentatively she opened her mouth to speak. "So let's go put our asses on the line – again – so we can do just that." She said with a voice that was much more wobbly than she would have liked.

With a will of iron, she pulled back from the touch of his rough skin and stood up slowly, stretching her hand out to help him up. Without releasing their grasp, both of them moved back towards the others in preparation to move out.

To be continued…

* * *

_A/N: I know this was shorter than usual, but my life has been insane recently and I really don't know when I'll next be able to post. I REALLY want to finish this before Christmas Eve, but it may not be possible. I'll be doing my best though – really!_

_I implore everyone to review… especially since I've somewhat detoured back into possible "cheese-factor-land"… I guess action will be following in the next chapter but I'm going to try and balance things a bit better than I have been recently._


	10. The tale of a hero

_A/N: Well, here we are once again, surrounding our individual computer screens for some enlightening fanfiction! I want to thank everyone that reviewed – especially those who hadn't done the last chapter… great to have your little contribution there!_

_This might be the last chap I get to write for a little while, what with the holidays and all, so I tried to make it good and comprehensive… I really hope you like it!_

_PS. I haven't had time to proof this as I'm running late for work. Sorry! If there are any major grammar mistakes or things that don't make sense, please email me and I'll fix them._

**Part 10 – The tale of a hero**

* * *

Military base, north of Toulouse

Jack looked across to the five people lying flat on their stomachs next to him and sighed inwardly. If they managed to remain undetected for the next five minutes, let alone the next fifteen, it would be a small miracle. He'd impressed upon Sam and Daniel the importance of keeping a tight reign on Philippe – and they had taken him at his word, trapping him between them as they all lay in wait. Still, it would only take the smallest of sounds at a particularly inopportune moment to foil all their plans.

Nervously, he checked his watch again. It was almost 8pm – nearly time for action. Catching Sam's eye, he saw her nod to him just as the familiar siren sounded and he saw the numerous figures under the glowing spotlight at the base converge on the left-most building.

"Carter, you and Daniel bring them once I give you the signal." Jack hissed quickly, raising himself off the ground slightly in preparation to move forward. "T, let's move out."

* * *

Sam waited anxiously as she watched first Jack, then Teal'c, move across the worryingly barren terrain between her position and the airbase. They were moving in stages; finding shadows and crevices where most people wouldn't think they existed. Sam was inwardly shocked to find she was holding her breath as she watched Jack's swift, lithe movements towards the base. Her fists clenched on the ground next to her, dirt getting into her fingernails as she concentrated all her thoughts on their safe passage to the airbase and, later on, out of the south of France. 

She was concentrating so hard on the scene in front of her that she almost missed the signal. With a jolt she pulled herself a couple of inches off the ground and issued hurried instructions in French for the group to move. She trained her gun on the few guards who were now facing the other direction as first Daniel, then Élodie, then Philippe crawled out from behind the rocks and started moving haphazardly across the clearing. Both the French civilians looked to be scared out of their wits, and it was all Daniel could do to keep them moving. As soon as they had moved a certain distance, Sam also made her move. Still watching the skeleton crew of guards, she skillfully moved across the ground, her attention equally divided between the staggering civilians and the hostile guards in the distance – a distance that was slowly coming closer as she made progress.

A couple of minutes later, she rounded the corner of the edge-most building of the airbase to find the others all waiting, Jack, Teal'c and Daniel's weapons trained in her direction – just in case. They lowered their weapons instantly, of course, but not before both Philippe and Élodie elicited loud gasps followed by equally audible sighs of relief. Jack instantly glowered in their direction and Sam was forced to reassure and quiet them.

"_Je vous le répète_, I'm telling you again," she hissed at them in what she hoped was still a cordial tone. "No noise – no matter what happens, ok?" She held both their gazes until they nodded both that they had understood. Satisfied for the moment she straightened up and looked back to Jack, who hadn't softened his stance in the slightest.

"We're good sir." She said quickly, nodding as she moved next to him, getting ready for the next stage of their plan.

"I still don't like this…" Jack grumbled under his breath as he stepped back to allow everyone to move in front of him. No matter how much he didn't approve of these people, he wasn't going to do anything to unduly endanger their lives. They didn't have the training to protect themselves, and as much as he found their presence odious, he wasn't going to sentence them to death through negligence.

As Jack and Sam had done earlier that day the group of them edged to the corner of the building. This time they waited while Teal'c looked cautiously around the corner to check that the coast was clear.

Their attention was collectively focussed on the task ahead of them. Even if SG1 should have been prepared for an attack from behind, the reality of the situation was that with two civilians under their protection, certain details were missed. A combination of factors meant that none of them heard the approaching guards. None of them had realised that Jack's signal to Sam had been seen; that they had been tracked in their approach; and that the skeleton crew was now approaching from behind.

* * *

"_Les mains en l'air_! Hands up!" A now familiar phrase caused Jack to freeze, cursing his failure to do his duty. The alarm would now surely be out and it would not be long before more than the mere skeleton crew were after them. 

He didn't move as he saw Sam turning slowly, her face ashen. She looked to Jack before directing her attention over his shoulder to face the guards who had discovered them. He saw her raise her hands slowly, somehow dispensing of her weapon in the process. With impressive courage, he watched her as she took a step back towards the guards, speaking in slow and deliberate French.

Whatever she was saying didn't appear to be impressing the guards. Jack's reflexes only just got him out of the way as one of them abruptly moved forward and tried to tackle him from behind. As he ducked away quickly and rolled on the ground, facing upwards with his weapon trained on one of the guards, he saw that the movement had had the effect of flicking a switch in their group. Suddenly everyone was moving and shouting. Élodie was cowering against a wall; Teal'c had another pinned up right against the wall. Daniel and Sam were both busy in combat but the most surprising was Philippe. He had moved back in the direction they had come from, brandishing a handgun.

Suddenly Jack understood how Sam had managed to raise her hands without revealing her weapon – she'd slipped it to him. Although the scene before him had seemed to unfold with a chilling silence and slowness, in reality only a couple of seconds had passed – clearly less than a second.

Jack snapped himself out of his moment of shock and quickly fired his weapon in the direction of the two guards at the back of the group. At the same time, he saw Sam and Daniel effectively disposed of their foes, as had Teal'c. Jack and Philippe had both fired their weapons, resulting in the instant death of one of the guards. The other, however, had turned and was now limping back in the direction they had come from. He disappeared around the corner as the two men continued firing. Although hit, he was still mobile and Jack supposed it would only be a matter of minutes – if that – before the general alarm sounded.

Jack quickly leapt back fully to his feet, issuing fast instruction. "Let's move!" he hissed. "Teal'c – you and Daniel get the truck and secure it in the plane." He shouted over his shoulder as he ran and crashed through the locked door to the warehouse that held the stargate. "Carter, you and the frogs are with me – we've gotta get this prehistoric baby off the ground and _fast_!"

Sam nodded quickly to Sam before quickly repeating the basic instruction to Philippe. She saw him nod with understanding as he set off to follow Jack. Hurriedly, she then moved towards Élodie, who seemed to be frozen in fear.

"_Allez, on n'a pas le temps_, come on, we don't have any time!" she said urgently, gently pulling the shaking French woman to her feet. "You're with Philippe, the Colonel and I – we'll keep you safe and get out of here, but we have to move!"

Having finally set Élodie in motion, Sam and the others were now running at full tilt across the warehouse floor. Jack had been way ahead of them, and activated the mechanical doors that would allow the plane to exit. He waved at Sam to go into the plane with their two French civilians as he did this.

None of them were ready for what came next. Although there had been no sirens, apparently the alarm had been sounded – either that or the personnel at the base had been waiting for – as Jack was instantly faced with at least a dozen gun barrels as the doors opened slowly. He ducked quickly to the left of the door and shouted back to Sam.

"GET THEM IN THE PLANE AND TAKE OFF!" he roared. "Don't wait – just GO!"

Sam hesitated at these words, torn between the necessity to recapture the 'gate and the absolute unacceptability of leaving a man behind – the personal unacceptability of leaving _this_ man behind.

"Goddammit Carter, GO!" Jack roared again, his voice cracking on the last word as he saw the despair in her eyes. "Get OUTTA here!"

Sam didn't need to be told again, she shoved Élodie in front of her as the guards opened fire on the plane and the truck. She saw Élodie scuttle into the plane towards the cockpit and went to follow when she noticed Philippe still hadn't moved.

"_Allez!_" She shouted with urgency. "_On n'a pas de temps à perdre! _Come on! We haven't got any time to lose!"

"_Allez-y_, go on!" Philippe shouted back, raising his weapon and beginning to fire. "I'll hold them off so your leader can get here!" He turned back to Jack and shouted in halting English "RUN 'ERE! I PROTECT YOU!"

Jack didn't need to be told twice. Silently admonishing himself for not having trusted the French man he moved low and fast across the warehouse floor. Keeping his eyes on Philippe and the entrance to the plane, he tried to ignore the sound of bullets whizzing quickly passed him, definitely too close for comfort.

Just 10 feet away from finally reaching his target, time seemed to slow down again for Jack. He felt the white-hot pain of being hit sear through his arm and watched in horror as the bullet continued. Faltering in his step with the shock his expression was matched by Philippe, who had stood in reaction to Jack being hit. He had chosen the wrong moment to move out of the cover of the side of the plane and his face was now fixed in an expression of shock as the bullet that had passed through the flesh in Jack's upper arm now lodged itself in the Frenchman's chest.

Jack accelerated after the momentary shock of being hit and lunged at Philippe just as the man stumbled forward. Roughly, he dragged the Frenchman up the ramp just as Daniel and Teal'c revved the motor of the truck holding the gate. He quickly lay Philippe's now still body on the edge of the cargo space in the plane and rushed towards the cockpit, brushing passed Élodie who was howling with horror as she ran towards Philippe.

Glancing behind him as he sat in the seat next to Sam, he quickly reassured her that she was alright with a curt nod before looking to the controls. What he saw was oddly familiar but still foreign enough for him to hesitate before touching anything.

"Sam we're in!" Daniel's voice rang out behind them. "Close the door and let's go!"

"You know how to work this thing Carter?" Jack asked as he instinctively fired the engines up and prepared to taxi out to the runway.

"I think so sir," Sam answered quickly as she flicked a couple of switches. She was satisfied by the sound of the rear cargo door closing behind them just as Jack put the plane in motion.

Each and every one in the plane now held their breath as the proceeded interminably slowly out of the warehouse and through the now multiplying French soldiers who were firing at them without pause. The bullet-proof qualities of the plane were completely unknown for them, and Sam and Jack found themselves ducking slightly as they manoeuvred the plane towards the runway, lest a bullet break through the glass windows. The sound of rapid fire was relentless and was still clearly audible over the admittedly loud engines of the plane. Jack taxied the plane at a borderline dangerous speed before setting up on the runway. Hoping the wind hadn't changed direction since he was outside before, he pushed the old bird to full throttle and hollered for everyone to hold on as the plane lurched forward under the weight of the stargate.

Looking out to the side Sam saw the soldiers hadn't given up and were now driving alongside the plane in trucks, still firing at them. She silently urged the plane on, praying it would become airborne before the end of the runway. Though it was a large plane, she doubted it had ever transported anything as heavy as a stargate. She looked over to Jack who was straining at the controls, pulling them toward him in an effort to coax the plane off the ground. Pain was stricken across his face and he was covered in sweat. She imagined the bleeding wound in his left arm was causing him pain and she placed her hands on the stick under his, adding her strength to their take-off. Finally, just as the loose scrub seemed worryingly close to them the old vessel finally lifted off the ground, and after a terrifying moment where they thought it was going to touch back onto the ground, lifted sharply into the air.

Watching the altimeter carefully, Jack and Sam continued their pull on the joystick until they had cleared an acceptable height before steadying the plane, retracting the flaps and other movable parts of the plane for long-distance travel, and locking the joystick into position. Before doing anything, both pilots of the plane looked at each other and grinned with relief – they were finally on their way.

In the air over France, moving north

Élodie sat dejectedly against the vibrating wall of the now airbone cargo plane with silent tears streaming down her face. Philippe's still and lifeless body was cradled in her lap as she slowly stroked his hair, willing him to come back to life.

"_C'était un héros_. He was a hero." A quiet, calm voice broke through into Élodie's foggy mind. She didn't move a muscle, but halted her breath for just a moment, indicating that she had heard Daniel's words.

"He risked everything to save us – even though we didn't fully trust him." Daniel continued quietly, sitting down carefully next to the grieving woman, not yet physically reaching out to her – he recognized her fragile state and was determined to let her call the shots. "He will be fully honoured when we return; I can promise this to you."

Élodie slowly turned to look at Daniel, although she continued to stroke Philippe's hair distractedly. "_Mais pour l'instant_, but for now," she said in a thick, shaky voice, "he will be regarded as a traitor. No one will know what he did or the significance of his actions."

"_Je sais_, I know." Daniel said simply, holding her gaze. "But in your heart, _you _will always know – and you should pass that on to people you meet… without the full details of course. He will be properly remembered in us."

Élodie finally let herself succumb to the pain that had slowly been taking over her whole body and sunk into Daniel's body, welcoming the strong arms that enveloped her in a protective embrace. She continued to allow the tears to fall freely, wetting Daniel's dusty jacket as she felt him place a soft, chaste kiss on the top of her head.

They sat like that for several minutes as the others approached to pay their respects to Philippe. Élodie allowed Teal'c to gently remove Philippe's body from her lap and she turned her head slightly while still resting against Daniel's chest as the Jaffa respectfully wrapped the dead Frenchman in a large sheet he had found in the cargo hold.

Teal'c muttered a couple of words in a language Élodie didn't know before bowing slowly in front of the now wrapped body and moving to the side as Sam and Jack also approached.

"_Je ne sais pas si j'aurais pu subir cette histoire sans vous, Daniel_, I don't know if I could have dealt with all this without you, Daniel." She said meekly through her tears. "_Merci_."

Daniel just squeezed Élodie tighter to his chest at these words, whispering words of consolation until she fell into an exhausted, but no less troubled slumber.

* * *

Jack had assured himself that they were in no danger of crashing before moving towards the back of the plane to face Élodie and the now dead Philippe. He nodded to her and to Daniel grimly but Élodie was pressed tight against Daniel, crying quietly with grief. Catching Daniel's eye, he reassured himself that she was going to be alright before finally sitting down on the ground and removing his jacket to investigate the gunshot wound that had afflicted him during their escape from Toulouse.

Sam had moved passed him, stopping briefly to speak quietly to Élodie before disappearing into the truck that was in the hold. She re-emerged a couple of moments later, just as Jack was fingering the oozing hole in his arm, and moved to sit next to him, holding the vest of her original BDUs and some materials from one of their packs.

"You're lucky it just went through the flesh." She said quietly, so as not to disturb Élodie who was now asleep. "I can clean and bandage it with our supplies," she said while fishing the necessary materials out of various pockets, "but you should take these antibiotics as well." She passed him a couple of pills along with a bottle of water.

"Yes ma'am." Jack said dryly, obeying her orders as she carefully dressed the wound. He tried not to show the discomfort as she swabbed alcohol over it, causing his entire arm to feel like it was on fire.

"So where are we going?" He asked when she had finished and they were now sitting facing Daniel and Teal'c. "I don't feel comfortable leaving the controls much longer – this is a pretty old plane."

"Well sir," Sam said, brushing her hand through her hair, trying to sweep away the weariness that had overcome her following their adrenaline-fuelled take-off from the airbase. "We're heading north for the moment – which is exactly what we wanted. The problem," she continued, "Is going to be finding a suitable place to land and to leave the stargate for the Germans to find in a couple of years time. It has to be hidden, but then found once the occupying force arrives in 1940."

"And here I was thinking we were more or less home and hosed…" Jack said, rolling his eyes and leaning back against a crate that was conveniently behind him.

"Actually sir, I think I know pretty much where we should go." Sam said, straightening her shoulders slightly as the familiar sensation of making a plan reinvigorated her resolve. "There's an airforce base near the Belgian border which, I think, is more or less deserted now, what with most of the armed forces massing near the Spanish border in case the civil war should spill into France." There won't be anyone in the vicinity of this base until the end of the Spanish conflict – in 1939. By then, the German army will be in full preparation for war and the French will have most of their forces on the German border."

"Hang on Sam," Daniel interrupted her quietly, so as not to disturb Élodie. "I thought we needed to leave the gate somewhere near the German border so Hitler's forces would find it?"

"Daniel the entire northern half of France is going to be occupied," Jack emphasized. "I don't really think it's going to matter if the gate's a 100 miles or so to the west…"

"Exactly," Sam nodded in agreement. "Besides, the German army actually comes down initially from the north and the facility I'm thinking of should fall into their first wave of attack – the last thing we want is for the French to find it with enough time to then move it and hide it, right?"

The small group all nodded and considered this before Jack quietly raised his right hand with a polite question. "Uhhh… just one problem Carter." He said sheepishly, not wanting to be the one who ruined her plan. "How do we find this place? It's not as if we've got a control tower to talk us down…"

"No…" Sam agreed somewhat hesitantly. "But all airforce bases in France have a standing emergency transmission for aircraft in distress – it's a throwback from the first world war where air travel was precarious at best," she explained to everyone. "I think I know how to work our receiver and we should be able to track it as soon as we're close enough. I put us on the correct heading to be in the general vicinity… we should get there in under two hours from now."

Jack looked at her with admiration. "You think you can land this thing in the dead of night, with no lights?" He raised his eyebrows with concern.

"I think we can try." Sam shrugged simply. "We can't exactly fly around til dawn – having this much cargo's too much of a drain on the engines."

Teal'c seemed to be contemplating the plan and suddenly looked up – his abrupt movement causing them all to jolt slightly. "How are we to activate the stargate without a DHD, Major Carter?" The simplicity of his question took them all by surprise, but was nonetheless pertinent.

"Ah… Carter?" Jack looked expectantly at his 2IC.

"Well, we could use the engines to create a current and dial manually…" she said slowly, her expression becoming lighter as she completed the sentence. "It's worked before…"

"And Élodie?" Daniel said quietly, absentmindedly stroking the Frenchwoman's arm as she lay comfortably against his chest still. "What happens to her?"

This question gave them all moment for pause. Each member of SG1 knew that she couldn't come with them – she needed to live out her life to come and warn them in the future; their present. The problem was going to be ensuring that she safely made it back to the south of France.

"She should take the truck." Jack said suddenly, his eyes opening wide with realization. "Just take it and drive as far south as she can." He looked directly at Sam: "You said most of the French forces are currently in the south near the Spanish border?" He waited for Sam to nod before continuing. "Then she could head to the Mediterranean - closer to the Italian border – and stay in hiding there."

"How do we know she'll make it?" Daniel persisted as he looked at the delicate woman nestled against his body.

"We can't." Sam said with sorrow. "But we can't exactly escort her there – with half the country looking for all of us, she'll stand a much greater chance alone… we just have to believe that she'll get there."

Daniel absorbed Sam's words before squinting his eyes shut in a silent prayer that Sam was right. "Ok." He said weakly, shrinking back into the side of the plane in silent thought. He didn't look up as the others stood before moving away – Sam and Jack to the front of the plane and Teal'c to another corner to Kel'nor'eem.

"So," Jack said quietly as he and Sam settled back into the cockpit and he took control of the plane again. "We've got a plan."

"Yes sir we do." Sam said quietly, a myriad of thoughts and concerns still flying for her mind. "Sir?" she asked quietly, keeping her eyes fixed doggedly on the dim instruments in front of her.

"Carter?" Jack said testily, wondering what she was so afraid of saying.

"I- I-" Sam faltered slightly before forcing herself to look at the man sitting next to her, revealing the tears that were welling in her eyes. "Thankgodyou'reok." She gushed in one breath, almost too fast for Jack to understand. She nearly stopped breathing after saying those words. Although by now she knew she should be able to show her emotions and feeling towards him without fear, the inherent impropriety that they had demonstrated over the passed couple of days continued to agonize her. Her frozen fear was broken by a strong arm that extended out from Jack and pulled her towards him again.

"Hey Sam?" Jack whispered carefully, testing the use of her first name again. "Ditto." His thumb moved rhythmically up and down against her shoulder as they both sat in silence, monitoring their progress north.

To be continued…

* * *

_A/N: Ok now I'm really sorry, but I'm not entirely confident that I'm going to be able to finish this before the weekend. If that's indeed the case, then it's unlikely I'll be able to post before mid to late January. It's now the summer break here in Oz and I will have sporadic at best computer (let alone internet) access until Australia Day, which is the 26th Jan. I swear I'm going to try my hardest to finish in the next couple of days (I really think I can do it in two chapters – famous last words…) but I just wanted to warn you all. I hope if I have to leave it for a hiatus you'll all remember it in 6 weeks' time!_

_Anyhoo… I purposefully didn't engineer a cliff-hanger for just that reason, and I hope you liked the chapter – please review and let me know! I find it a bit of a chore to write action sequences so I hope the effort I put into this shows!_


	11. Two landings, two shocks

_A/N: It's so late my eyes are blurry and I'm working _AGAIN _first thing in the morning. Now that I've said I'm not going to be able to finish the fic, I've been inspired to do it before Saturday! I really hope it doesn't seem rushed… I am writing quickly, but I'm trying to make sure the standard doesn't slip. Quite nervous (read: panicky) about this, so please give me an indication!_

_Thank you to my generous reviewers. Again you have all made my day, and my only hope is that I can live up to your expectations!_

_Before I fall asleep on the keyboard and you end up with ten lines of "a;ldfkj;", I'd better wrap it up and just say: enjoy!_

**Part 11 – Two landings, two shocks**

* * *

In the air over France, approaching the Belgian border

Sam sat down wearily next to Élodie's exhausted form as the plane's engines buzzed away in the background. She cast her gaze back towards the cockpit, shaking her head slowly to herself. Jack had insisted she get some rest – never mind the fact that _he_ was the one who had been shot, and not her. She wasn't going to deny to herself that she was exhausted, but that didn't mean she could just switch off mid-mission – they couldn't afford any mistakes.

As she had arrived towards the rear of the aircraft, she'd indicated to Daniel that he should take the opportunity to move around. Despite his reluctance to leave Élodie, he had agreed, stretching his cramped muscles at length as he moved slowly – only a couple of metres away.

Élodie had stirred as Daniel moved, but the sound of Sam's voice reassuring her had eased her apparent anguish. She had opened her eyes and they had stayed this way, now locked in their gaze on Sam. The constant audience caused Sam to become somewhat uncomfortable.

"_Ç… ça va?_ You ok?" Sam asked quietly, unnerved by the constant gaze. "You know, I can't express my sorrow enough about Philippe." She waited with bated breath as she saw Élodie processing the information. "Without him, Jack wouldn't be with us…" she looked down, suddenly overcome by the hypothetical grief of that outcome they had so nearly been forced to accept. "We'll never be able to do enough to honour his memory… or to thank you for all your help…"

"_C'était pas mon amant_, he wasn't my lover." Élodie said quietly, her voice oddly devoid of emotion. She had averted her gaze from Sam and now seemed to be far away. "But at the same time, he represented all that I knew before stepping through that ring… before you came…" she looked down into her lap, unable to speak any more. "I just want everything to be easy again."

Sam placed a sympathetic arm on Élodie's shoulder trying to take any pain she could away. "_Moi, je voudrais tout simplement que les choises soient simple_,_ point_. Me, I'd just like everything to be simple, period."

"_Et pourquoi ne serait-ce le cas?_ And why isn't that the case?" Élodie's voice suddenly regained some of its previous force, and her eyes flashed with anger. "You have this life – as crazy as it may be – and this man who clearly loves you while you clearly love him… and yet you claim it's _complicated_!" She threw her hands into the air in disbelief. "You nearly lost him today and still you can't accept what has to be! I can't believe you two! You love him. He loves you. It's _simple_ – how much more simple can you want it to be!"

Sam was speechless as she listened to this outburst. Whether it was the undeniable elements of truth in the frenchwoman's words, or simply the shock of her eruption, she felt completely destabilized. Glancing again towards the cockpit, she felt tears stubbornly forming and threatening to fall down her cheeks. Looking away from Élodie and towards the wall, she managed to whisper a small plea: "Please, don't."

"Don't what?" Élodie whispered back in English. "_Pour moi, c'est foutu_, for me, it's all screwed up. The man I didn't love but who loved me is dead; and the man who I think I could love is from another time, due to leave me within the next few hours." She paused, letting the words sink in to Sam's psyche. "_Mais pour vous_, but for you…" she looked up to the ceiling gesturing wildly with her arms that the sky was the limit.

"You may be right…" Sam spoke slowly and deliberately in English; she'd had enough of French for the moment and was trying desperately to keep her resolve. "… but none of that changes the fact that it's just not possible – he is my commanding officer."

Élodie looked at Sam carefully as the latter focused intently on a spot in the wall, seemingly not taking in any of her surroundings. "_On verra_, we'll see." She said quietly, before settling back against the wall.

* * *

Jack sat looking at the controls, zoning in and out of what was going on. It could never be said that flying an aircraft was simple… but on this night they had been blessed with steady conditions and the simplicity of the ancient design meant that for the moment all he needed to do was keep the joystick steady. It was now just a waiting game… waiting for the beacon to be picked up by the plane's rudimentary radio receiver. As if on cue, a sonorous blip caused Jack to jump in his seat. Wherever they were, they were near an airforce base somewhere. 

Sam must have heard the blip as the next thing Jack heard was her approaching steps. She sat down next to him and started fiddling with the dials and controls. He couldn't help noticing that she looked frazzled and distraught. He ached to reach out and hold her, ask her what was wrong, comfort her… but years of experience reminded him that for the moment she need to be allowed to work. Whatever her state of mind, she had never let him down; and wasn't going to now.

Suddenly, she looked up, her face brightening slightly. Pointing to what Jack thought looked like yet another nondescript knob on the control panel of the plane, she gave him the news they had both been praying to hear.

"It's the signature for the base on the Belgian border." She said triumphantly. "There won't be any lights, but it's a clear night – I think I can take us down."

Jack nodded quickly, confident in her and his combined ability to safely land the aircraft. Nonetheless, he felt it prudent to re-attach the seatbelt in his seat (no matter how ineffective it would probably be in the case of an accident). And turned towards the back of the plane where the others were looking on expectantly.

"Brace yourselves against something back there!" he ordered. "We don't know how rough this is going to be!"

Sam distractedly fastened her seatbelt as she concentrated intently on the task at hand. No matter how clear the night was, there was no denying the fact that the ground seemed to be a largely homogenous grey mass a long way below them. She could master their descent safely using the radar blips as a guide of their distance from the field, and she knew that the runway should be on a WNW axis from their approach… but these were approximations. The danger of touching the ground too early or too late was very real.

She needed to look for any cues on the ground. Buildings, trees, forests, anything. As the blips on the radar increased in their frequency, she craned her neck to see out of the frankly inadequate cockpit windows to try and get her bearings. Jack was keeping the plane level on their descent, and she thanked every God that may or may not exist again that we was alive, well, and with her to help with this landing.

"Ok sir, I think we should only be a couple of miles away now," she said curtly, not looking away from the dark scene ahead and below them. "We need to slow down and get the nose up."

"Easier… said… than… done…" Jack grunted as he struggled with the jerky controls. "We're _way_ too heavy with the gate in the back…"

"I know." Sam said simply, glancing quickly at Jack's strained expression as he wrangled with the prehistoric plane. "But we got her off the ground – we'll get..." Sam trailed off as something caught her eye in the distance. "There it is!" She exclaimed, rising herself up out of the seat slightly to get a better view. "Shit we're going to hit the runway way too fast… get ready guys!" She added over her shoulder while flicking a multitude of switches controlling the flaps and landing gear.

Everyone held their breath as the Earth came up towards them with alarming speed. They were only just above the tree-line of the forest to the south of the airstrip now, and it was all Jack could do to keep them from brushing the top of the pines below them. Abruptly, there were no longer any trees underneath them and a clearing opened up, a wide dirt strip running diagonally through its centre. The plane continued to glide for a couple of moments before roughly touching to the ground, shuddering with the force of the impact and causing the truck holding the stargate to lurch forward, thankfully not as far as the cockpit.

As soon as they were steadily on the ground, Jack and Sam both grasped the controls in an effort to bring the plane to a halt before they careered into the trees at the other end. There wasn't a great deal of fuel on the plane, so the danger of explosion was minimal… but a crash in the forest would attract attention – something they knew they could not afford. They pulled with all their might on the controls and Jack started roaring with exasperation as the plane stubbornly kept moving forwards at speed. The trees were now only a hundred metres away and Sam took rash action; at the risk of touching one of the wings to the ground and flipping the plane, she sharply turned the plane to avoid hitting the forest. Yet again the plane started shaking violently as the right wing grazed along the ground, digging into the now unkempt grassland that bordered the now exhausted runway.

Thankfully, the extra friction served its purpose and eventually the plane came to a halt – in one piece. As Jack powered the engines down, Sam looked out the window to the wing with concern. The heat of rubbing against the ground had caused its tip to smoulder slowly; they needed to get out of there and fast.

"Sir!" She pointed frantically out the window while getting up at the same time, flicking the switch to open the cargo door at the same time. "Teal'c! She yelled as she ran to the back of the plane. Get everyone in the truck! We need to get out – NOW!" As she ran towards the truck, Jack right behind her. She stopped and raised her hands up in disbelief and frustration. The angle of the plane had caused the rear door to malfunction and now it had only opened halfway. In any event, its full descent would still leave it on a precarious angle.

"GodDAMMIT!" Jack yelled to no one in particular as he saw the problem. Thinking fast, he made a decision. "Everyone jump out and move as far away as you can – I'll get it outta here." He saw Sam hesitate as she realized what he was thinking of doing. "Carter we don't have a choice!" He exclaimed. "We need to get it out of here and that's what I'm gunna do – it's not like the stargate's gunna _break_ – it's practically indestructible.

Sam though of retorting that it was the stargate she was worried about, but she realized that one of them had to get the truck out of there, and if there was someone who could handle a truck in _curious_ circumstances, it was Jack. Nodding to him quickly she continued running, herding Élodie out of the door in front of her to Daniel's waiting arms. They all ran out and away from the plane for about a 100 feet before turning to watch Jack's attempt at a near-impossible feat.

They mouths collectively gaped in horror as an almighty roar in coming from within the plane soon translated to the frightening image of the truck reversing out of the plane at speed, landing briefly on its rear before flipping to its roof and crashing down the ground upside down.

Sam hadn't waited for the truck to crash to the ground was already towards it, her chest threatening to explode with the agony of having watched the disaster unfold.

* * *

Jack didn't know if he the truck was spinning, or if it was just his head. He didn't know how many ways he was hurting, only that if he moved at that moment, he would only do himself more injury while throwing up at the same time. A persistent whooshing sound wouldn't go away from his ears, even though he felt almost certain that he wasn't physically spinning. It made it difficult to perceive anything outside his own pain. He didn't know if his eyes were open, and it was some time before he heard Sam's frantic calls to him as she came closer. 

"Jack! Jack!" Sam was now only inches away from him, on the other side of the open window of the front of the truck. Her voice sounded hysterical with fear as she forgot every rule or regulation which would usually temper her actions. Her breath was ragged as she heaved at the door to get it open. She nearly collapsed with relief as he groggily slumped out of the seat and only the ground, landing awkwardly on his shoulder before flopping onto his back.

Jack raised his hand slowly to his head, pressing down on his forehead – trying to make the pain go away. His eyes slowly focused on Sam's face as the light of the moon made her hair seem to glow against the back carpet of the sky. "Oy," was all he managed to say, letting her bring him to a sitting position slowly. "Oy…" he repeated, smiling weakly.

Deserted French airbase, near the Belgian border

Sam was sitting next to Jack, supporting him slightly as he wavered still against her side. She was looking nervously from Élodie to the truck and back. The others had approached to check that Jack was ok but they were now faced with a serious problem. There was no way they were going to be able to move the stargate, let alone the plane. In one fell swoop, their plan was now severely compromised and Élodie's future infinitely uncertain.

"Well, we've just gotta get it upright again." Daniel said with a quiet resolve, looking intently at the truck.

"I do not think that either possible or wise, Daniel Jackson." Teal'c said gravely, also regarding the truck carefully. "We have neither the man-power nor the machinery to perform such a task. This vehicle cannot be moved in the immediate future."

"And how do we dial the stargate?" Daniel challenged angrily, initially skirting around the issue. "And what about Élodie! How's she supposed to escape to the south?" He placed a protective arm against the French woman, his eyes flashing at the others. "It's not like we're gunna run out of time – we've got time to figure this out before anyone comes back here!"

"Uh, actually Daniel," Sam tentatively spoke, knowing that what she was going to say would not go over well with anyone present. "I don't have any of the solar flare data unless we go very soon."

Everyone suddenly stopped still and looked at her with surprise. In all the excitement it hadn't occurred to them that their return to the future would be more complicated than simply dialing the gate.

"When we left I knew it was possible that we'd miss our target date by up to a year or so," Sam began apologetically, ignoring the incensed expression on Jack and Daniel's faces. "So I looked up the solar flare data up to the end of 1937…" She trailed off, looking down to the ground in preparation for what was going to come next.

"And?" Jack prompted softly, his voice tender as he realized how hopeless their situation probably was.

"And, the last event that I'm sure of is going to be shortly after sunrise." Sam almost whispered the words. "If we stay any longer, we'd have to gate off-world to try our chances with one of our allies in finding a way back to our time."

* * *

Élodie listened intently to what Sam was saying, and although she only understood about half of the words, the meaning was clear. Despite Daniel's obvious objections, she knew it would be irresponsible to jeopardize SG1s return to their time. There were other ways to escape than by using the truck. 

"_Daniel, vous devriez y aller_, you should go." She placed her hand on Daniel's, draped as it was over he shoulder. "I will be fine; and you belong in the next century."

"But-" Daniel stopped himself short as he saw the expression on Élodie's face. Regaining confidence, he turned to the others again. "But what about the stargate? How can we power it up by then?"

"We are in close proximity to the aeroplane." Teal'c's voice filled the still night. "It would appear the vessel is no longer in danger of bursting into flames – we should have no problem re-activating the engines as a power source."

Sam looked anxiously at Daniel. "He's right Daniel," she said meekly. "Even upside down the gate will work."

"I can't believe you're even CONSIDERING THIS!" Daniel ignored Élodie's arm squeezing his as he stood to shout at Sam. "I expect this kind of crap from Jack but not from you!" His eyes were wide as he tried to appeal for her to change her mind. "Sam we can't just-"

"Yes we _can_ Daniel." Jack spoke for the first time, his voice still sounding distant in his fazed stated. "If Carter's not sure she can get us back after this last window, you can pretty much assume it's impossible – we need to go."

"Daniel." Sam stood and moved towards the archaeologist, looking him straight in the eye. "The older Élodie would have told us if we weren't coming back – remember how amazed she was to see you again? Does that sound like someone who had spent the last 50 odd years with you in the same timeline?" She clasped both his hands to try and make him understand. "We're not _meant_ to stay here – if we do we could do way more harm than good."

Daniel realised with a flutter of sorrow that Sam was right. He slowly moved back and lowered himself to the ground next to Élodie. The entire group waited silently as he processed everything through his mind and he silently thanked them for their support. Turning to the woman next to him, he saw she looked just as worried as he felt.

"_Que ferez-vous_? What are you going to do?" He asked quietly, clasping her hands in his, interlacing his fingers with hers.

"_Je trouverai le moyen de m'échapper_, I'll find a way to escape." Élodie answered with unexpected firmness. "I must."

Sam sighed in relief as she realized Daniel had got the point and, much as the idea of leaving Élodie pained her, she turned to Teal'c in readiness to start work. "Teal'c, we're going to need to find any and all material that can conduct the power of the plane's engines to the gate…"

"Uh, Carter?" Jack's voice interrupted Sam's busy train of thought and caused her to pause on the spot before turning to look at him. "Isn't the gate upside down?" He raised his eyebrows meekly as he asked the question.

"That particular orientation of the stargate will have no bearing on its correct function, O'Neill." Teal'c replied promptly.

"Well, except it might be a bumpy landing back at the SGC…" Sam added, dipping her head in admission.

"Ah." Jack gave the standard response he usually came up with when a situation was largely taken out of his hands. "Well, if you don't mind, I might rest my bruised body for a while…" He smiled weakly at Sam who nodded vigourously at this suggestion before turning back to Teal'c. He went to sleep to the sound of his team industriously brainstorming and planning for the next stage of their mission.

Deserted airbase, dawn

Élodie had wiled away the wee hours of the morning before dawn trying to both think and not think of what would happen when the sun rose. She needed a plan of attack for when SG1 would be gone, and such a plan was slowly forming in her mind… but then every time she thought of what awaited her, she was cruelly reminded of the fact that she would have to say goodbye to the man still sitting next to her.

She sighed again as this realization hit her with renewed force, causing Daniel to furrow his brow in concern. Waving his concern away with resignation she was about to settle into his side, head leaning on his shoulder, when she spied Sam and Teal'c approaching from the back of the overturned truck.

"Everything's set up as best as we can manage." Sam said quietly, not wanting to disturb the solemn three sitting on the ground. Mostly she was worried about Élodie and Daniel; Jack, for his part, looked all-too ready to leave. "I still don't know for sure that it's going to work – but it's our best shot."

Daniel merely nodded, huffing silently and looking away before Élodie's hand brought him back into the group.

"_Je vous remercie de tout mon cœur._ I thank you with all my heart." She said sincerely, looking deep into Daniel's eyes. "I thank you all." She added, looking around at the group. With renewed force and confidence in herself, she sat up slightly and continued. "I know that hard times are ahead, and that unbridled tragedy awaits not only my nation but most of the world." She paused to look at each an every one of them. Teal'c had remained standing stoically over the group, forever on patrol; Sam, on the other hand, had slowly sunk into the ground next to the Colonel and was now subconsciously leaning in to him; as he was to her. She smiled knowingly at them both before continuing. "At the same time, I know that in the future there are to be greater things – accompanied by the threat of a fate much worse than world war – and I know that the future has you." She turned back to Daniel and moved in close, speaking so only he could hear. "You have to go back – I will be fine. Without you back where you belong, our time together will have been wasted."

Élodie had made her decision. She moved her head closer to Daniel's, touching her lips briefly to his. He closed his eyes and welcomed the kiss, willing it to go on forever, before Élodie abruptly broke the contact, stood, and started walking off to the south.

Daniel snapped his eyes open as soon as Élodie had pulled away from him, and now leapt to his feet as she moved away. He went in pursuit of her but was stopped dead as she turned around. Her face was lined with tears as she held her hands out, telling him to stop.

"_Daniel, je peux pas… je voudrais tant…_ I can't… I would so like to…" she choked on the words, letting down her guard as Daniel closed the gap between them and wrapped his arms around her. "_Adieu_." She whispered through his jacket, once again pulling away and turning to leave the group.

"_Pas 'adieu',_ not 'adieu'." Daniel corrected, grasping at her hand in one final moment of connection between the two. "_Au revoir_."

Élodie smiled weakly through her tears and nodded quickly before drawing her hand away from Daniel's hold. She touched her palm to her cheek and finally set out clear from SG1, not allowing herself the luxury of looking back until she had reached the tree-line on the opposite side of the airbase. After one brief look over her shoulder, she then moved into the dense forestation and she was gone.

* * *

Sam sat completely still while Élodie's departure played out in front of them. She wanted to do something – anything – but Jack had placed a gentle yet firm hand on her arm. Upon reflection she knew that the best course of action would be to do nothing; at some point Élodie would have to leave, and it was probably better that she left before the stargate activation – lest Daniel do anything rash. 

Still, seeing Daniel drop to his knees, his eyes fixed on the receding human form that was getting progressively smaller as it passed through the long fingers of shadow stretching across the field in the dawn sunlight… seeing the utter despair in his drooping posture was more than difficult, it was heart-wrenching.

"How much time do we have?" Jack's voice wafted into her ear as she kept her eyes on Daniel.

"Just under 15 minutes," Sam sighed, pulling her knees to her chest and resting her head in her hands. She looked at Jack as something else occurred to her, hitting her with such force she thought she was going to cry out. "15 minutes…" she whispered hoarsely, her eyes searching his to see if he was thinking of the same thing as her.

"Shh Sam," Jack moved to cup her face in his hand. "Whatever happens in 15 minutes time, it's not the end." He paused, waiting for her to acknowledge his words, and then nodded in Daniel's direction. "For the time being, we've got a catatonic archaeologist to worry about."

* * *

"Daniel?" 

Sam hadn't made any attempt to approach Daniel quietly, but he was so lost in his own world that he hadn't even noticed when she sat down direction in front of him.

"Daniel it's time to move." Sam persisted quietly, insistent but still soft in tone. "We can't stay here."

Sam was suddenly shocked as the still man suddenly leapt back into life, hope springing from where there had been none.

"But we can't leave!" He exclaimed, suddenly ecstatic with joy. "We haven't hidden the truck – the _plane_ – nothing! If we leave now they'll surely find it before the Germans do!" He was now shouting at Sam even though she was less than three feet away from him.

"Daniel," Sam persisted calmly but firmly. "We can't do anything about that now. Either we go back now or we never get back." She looked around her anxiously. "I don't like leaving it all like this any more than you do, but I have to believe that somehow this ends up in the Germans' hands… one way or the other."

Both of them were interrupted by the sound of the aeroplane's engines. They both turned to see Jack emerge from the back of the plane, making a thumbs up gesture to Teal'c before the jaffa entered the back of the upturned truck. Sam looked down to her watch and realized they only had 3 minutes to make the transfer.

Drawing herself upright she held a hand out for Daniel, not saying a word, but locking eyes with his and following his gaze wherever he went; keeping him focused on the task at hand. Slowly, they walked towards the stargate, hearing each chevron lock into place as the time of departure drew nearer.

"Carter?" Jack shouted to her above the noise of the aeroplane engines; they were about to move lock the final chevron in place and the timing had to be right. Sam checked her watch and nodded vigourously, giving Jack and Teal'c the signal they needed to activate the wormhole.

Daniel flinched as the wormhole engaged, and almost looked like he would escape. Before he could make any such attempt, Teal'c appeared at his side, having moved away from the stargate. "It is now time Daniel Jackson." He stood supportively next to Daniel until Sam gave them all the signal while punching in the access code to the GDO. All four jumped through the gate, Teal'c and Daniel followed directly by Sam and Jack.

Stargate Command, 4 hours after SG1 and young Élodie's departure

"Receiving IDC sir!" The welcome phrase filled the control room as General Hammond leaned over the console expectantly. "It's SG1!"

The words he had been waiting for were pronounced and the General smiled with triumph as he instructed that the iris be opened. Moving quickly down the stairs he came through the door to the gate room just as SG1 seemed to fall from the top of the stargate, upside down, onto the gate-ramp.

"Dr Fraser to the gate room!" He bellowed in the direction of those observing from the control room before indicating for the personnel present to help him. These precautions proved unnecessary, however, as all four members of his best team sat up, somewhat bruised and worse for wear, but generally in good health. He noticed a wound on Jack's arm, but wasn't concerned for the moment.

"SG1, welcome home." He beamed at the still dazed bodies sitting on the gate ramp. "Since we're all still here, I imagine your mission was a success."

"Overall sir, I guess you could say that…" Jack winced as he rubbed the back of his neck – the fall to the metal ramp had not been kind to him. "But next time, send SG3."

"Duly noted Colonel." General Hammond chuckled at thejoint-CO's dry sense of humour. "Sergeant!" He barked at one of the men near the door. "Escort Teal'c, Dr Jackson and _both _Colonels O'Neill to the infirmary." He winked at Jack. "No complaints Colonel – you're going to the infirmary and that's an order."

Jack hadn't even heard the playful comment from General Hammond – nor indeed had any other member of SG1. One phrase was playing over and over in their heads: '_both_ Colonels O'Neill.' Slowly they looked to each other before turning back to General Hammond, still mouths still gaping. Apparently all was not as they had left it…

To be continued…

* * *

_A/N: Now this time I really really REALLY want reviews… I really really REALLY want to know what you think about how I've got them coming back to the SGC andhow you think what ever has happened came about!  
__Now I know there are way more people reading this than there are reviewing… but this time please take a moment to reflect on what's been going on and give me some feedback!_

_Oh, just in case anyone doesn't know, "adieu" actually means "until we meet god" and "au revoir" means "until we meet again." Just in case it wasn't clear. _


	12. Rewriting history

_A/N: Ha! Bookworm, I win – I have managed to get this thing done BEFORE Saturday… with a whole extra 24 hours to spare I might add! In compensation for the cruel way I left you all hanging last time, I'll keep this waffle to a minimum:_

**Part 12 – Rewriting history**

* * *

Janet bustled around the infirmary in her usual manner, lamenting yet again the series of scrapes and bruises sustained by her favourite SG team. Yet again, such minor complaints were sadly not the only issues. Although Sam had done a good job with Jack's gunshot wound, she wasn't going to let her have her husband back at home until at least the next day. She'd properly explored the injury, washing and dressing it and the Air Force Colonel was now reluctantly confined to his bed. 

Usually she would expect him to at least sleep for a little while, but something was bothering him and he was very ill-at-ease. Now that she surveyed the members of SG1 again, she noticed that they all looked perturbed in some way. There was something they weren't telling her. The look on Jack's face persuaded her to leave it for the moment, however. It could wait until she had finished their examinations.

"Teal'c, Daniel." She glanced at the charts held in her hands before looking to the men sitting on the side of two gurney's in front of her. "You can go, but I want you to stay on base tonight, just in case." She looked pointedly at Daniel. "I think there's someone waiting to see you anyway…" she added with a small smile, satisfied as his face brightened as he caught her meaning.

As soon as it was just Jack and Sam remaining in the room, she turned slowly to Sam who she had forced to lie down on the gurney next to Jack. The couple kept glancing at each other with worried expressions which Janet couldn't fathom to understand. There seemed to be a silent conversation or argument going on between them but with a sigh, Janet realized that unless they wanted to share, she would probably remain the dark.

"Sam," she said quietly, bringing her friend to attention, "I kept you in here because there's a discrepancy between your pre-departure and post-departure tests that is puzzling me…. It's not life-threatening," she added hastily as both Jack and Sam's faces registered alarm, "however usually I'd just talk to you alone about this. Would you prefer that or is it ok with Jack here?"

Sam hesitated before answering. She had no idea as to what was going on, but it appeared that she was possibly married to Jack somehow… and if Janet was hesitating before talking in front of her supposed husband, then maybe it wasn't a good idea. She glanced over to Jack, searching his eyes to see if he would mind the rejection of them leaving the room to discuss whatever it was alone.

"S'up to you Carter." Jack said, leaning back into his pillow and closing his eyes. "I need time to think anyway."

" 'Carter'?" Janet looked from one to the other of them, puzzled. "It's been years since you've called Sam that, Jack."

The 'two O'Neills' suddenly froze, looking to each other for an indication of what they should do. Jack shook his head slightly at Sam, hoping she got his meaning. The last thing they needed now was to alert the whole base to the possibility that something was amiss. They needed to gather more information first.

"We were in frequent contact with another Sam in France." Sam rushed the words out, bumbling as she tried to make the hastily-conceive lie believable. "Over time it became easier if everyone called me 'Carter'."

"Right." Janet said slowly. They were both definitely acting strangely, but for the moment there wasn't much she could do, and she really needed to talk to Sam. "Shall we go into my office Sam?" The two women moved slowly out of the room, both turning at the last moment to look at Jack, who seemed completely absorbed in thought.

* * *

As soon as they had left the infirmary, both Teal'c and Daniel were somewhat frozen to the spot, unsure of exactly what to do in such familiar and yet necessarily foreign circumstances. As people walked by them, nodding pleasantly as they passed, they wondered if these personnel even really knew SG1, or whether they had returned to a significantly altered present. They didn't know what had changed exactly, but the astounding comment General Hammond had made on their arrival was huge enough. 

Before Daniel could descend into a spiral of unanswered questions, a familiar elderly frame appeared around the corner, a terrified look on her face. Daniel saw her instantly and felt tears forming at his intense relief to see that Élodie had survived. Before he could stop himself, his previously frozen body suddenly erupted into motion and he enveloped her small frame in a tight hug that threatened to hurt her.

"How did you-? Are you -? What -?" Daniel tried and failed to ask the countless questions running through his head into Élodie's ear as they stood fused together in the middle of the corridor outside the infirmary.

Élodie pulled away, still clasping Daniel's hands in hers. In truth, it had been less than 12 hours since she had last seen him, but now it was different – now he _knew_ her. It was as if she was young again. She could remember walking away from them across the field all those years ago with such determination… she could remember the vows she had made to herself; that she would survive, honour Philippe's memory, and do all she could to help her friends of the future. Years before, a series of hauntingly realistic visions within her dreams told her she had succeeded. Her arrival at the SGC had confirmed her suspicions, but now she knew that there would be some explaining to do.

As Élodie was mentally preparing herself for this, Daniel was suddenly struck by something: if Jack and Sam were suddenly inexplicably married, then would Élodie's memories of their time together be the same as his? He was about to open his mouth when she cut him off.

"I know you have many questions," she said in fluent English. "I will answer them as best I can, however be assured I share the same memories you do of your time in France." She motioned towards the door behind where Teal'c was still standing. "It is best that I talk to the rest of your team at the same time."

* * *

"Janet what's going on?" Sam was standing uneasily near the door of the Doctor's office, refusing the seat that had been offered to her. She knew it wasn't possible, but the thought had crossed her mind that maybe Janet knew she wasn't meant to be married to Jack; maybe somehow she could explain everything. Everything was so confused at the time her mind was screaming out for some sense of order. Most of all, however, she was petrified that there was a catch; that somewhere in this reality there would be a huge downside to the fact that she and Jack could actually be together. She felt all the muscles spasming in her legs and was forced to lean back against the wall as all this and more tortured her soul in the few seconds before Janet broke the silence. 

"Sam, honey, are you sure you don't wanna sit down?" Janet saw how her friend was wavering, but couldn't understand what the panic was all about. It wasn't like Sam to jump to conclusions, and there's no way she could envisage what was about to be said.

"Janet, just talk to me." Sam leaned her head back against the wall, squeezing her eyes shut as she spoke with clenched teeth.

"Ok." Janet widened her eyes in puzzled defeat, leaning against the corner of her desk, near the door. Shaking her head imperceptibly, she began her speech. "When we did the routine blood tests before you left, everything was superficially normal so I ok'd the mission immediately." Janet was almost apologetic in her tone of voice. "Don't worry, there's nothing wrong with you… actually," she paused, trying to figure the puzzle out for herself, "what was there isn't anymore." She saw Sam flinch slightly but continued before she could have any reaction. "When the complete test results came back," Janet pursued, "Sam, they indicated that you were… that, that you were _pregnant_."

Sam snapped her eyes open, suddenly feeling unable to breathe. Not only had she come back to a completely different life, but apparently whoever she had been in this particular strand of time, she was pregnant with Jack's child? Did that mean that she was now pregnant? But that made no sense…

"Sam, honey," Janet moved towards her friend, placing a hand on her forearm, wishing she could take away some of the fear and confusion she could read on Sam's face. "I've checked and re-checked… I re-performed the tests on your blood samples from before and after you were on mission… I'm sorry, but you're _not_ pregnant – and I can't explain it; in fact the complete change between when you left and when you got back is alarming to say the least."

Sam didn't react immediately, merely nodding to herself; it wouldn't have made sense if she'd been pregnant. This of course brought her to another dilemma: what had happened to the pregnant Sam Carter? Where had she gone?

"Sam I need to know what's going on." Janet grabbed her, holding both her arms and looking straight into her eyes. "Your hair, your demeanour, the fact that you and the others look completely disoriented and petrified at being back… what's wrong? What happened to you guys?"

"My hair?" A small voice emerged after what had seemed like an endless pause in the room. Sam looked up quizzically to Janet. "What about my hair?"

"Well," Janet touched her fingers to the short, golden wisps next to Sam's left ear, "When was the last time you got your hair cut while on mission?" The silence that followed, and the look of sheer terror on Sam's face, brought Janet to think of something else. "Sam?" Janet asked quietly, her voice suddenly shaky. "Tell me about time travel again? Who exactly _are_ you?

Sam slowly straightened herself and stood up, independently of the wall. If she couldn't talk to Janet, then they were going to stand no chance in this slightly altered reality. Completely reversing their roles, it was now she who indicated that perhaps Janet should sit down.

"Jan," Sam began pleading for her friend to understand, "I am still me, you're still one of my best friends, we've still been working with each other since the stargate programme began…" She paused, trying to explain something she didn't even really understand, despite her extensive knowledge. "When we left the SGC, Colonel O'Neill was still Colonel O'Neill; Daniel and Teal'c were still themselves… but I-" she stuttered slightly, before taking a deep breath and continuing. "I was _Major_ Carter, 2IC of SG1, and _not_ married to the Colonel…"

* * *

Teal'c, Daniel, Jack and Élodie were all gathered in the infirmary, not saying a word, when Janet and Sam emerged; both of them looking somewhat haunted and frazzled. Sam managed a weak smile as she saw Élodie, moving towards her and giving her a friendly hug. 

"_Je suis tellement contente que vous soyez là_, I'm so glad you're here." She said in a grateful voice. "I guess for the most part we succeeded then?" She pulled away from Élodie, searching the woman's eyes. Thinking about their predicament, it occurred to Sam that Élodie may have a completely different memory of the events of 1937.

"Yes." Élodie responded encouragingly in English for the benefit of the others. "But I have quite a tale to tell you; and would think it best that you all be alone."

Sam saw Élodie's eyes flit in Janet's direction and instantly understood. "It's ok, she knows."

At this comment Jack, who had up til now been somewhat contentedly lounging on the gurney, lifted his frame up slightly in alarm. "She _knows_?" He squeaked to Sam, looking at her in disbelief.

"It's ok Jack," Janet moved a step forward hastily, not noticing Jack's surprise at being addressed by his first name. "Something about Sam's tests tipped me off… and from what I heard, it sounds like you two deserve to land in this particular time variation."

Jack looked to Sam, his eyebrows raised slightly. He assumed that 'time variation' meant just what it sounded like, but still – the whole physics thing was definitely his 'wife's area, and not his.

"I'll explain later sir," Sam brushed his questioning look away, before blushing with embarrassment. Years of training couldn't be forgotten that quickly – it would probably be a while before she managed to drop the 'sir'.

Élodie saw that none of this uncertainty was helping anyone. If she was truly to bring happiness to these people, she needed to give them as best an explanation as she could; but then, in reality, she had done very little to effectuate the necessary changes; probably why there had, to her knowledge, been no other significant changes to their reality. She cleared her throat gingerly to bring attention away from Sam's momentarily crimson complexion.

"When I left you in the north of France," she began speaking the words she had been rehearsing for so long. "I did not know much of what the future held; only that I had lost almost too much to bear, and that for all your help you would receive nothing. I was aware that I couldn't fix everything, but with my knowledge of your lives, and my knowledge of Samantha's feelings in particular, I set about devising a way give you what I could never have."

"The war? How did-?" Daniel had so many questions brimming inside him he didn't know where to start. Élodie cut him off before he could formulate a coherent sentence.

"Daniel, it suffices for the moment to know that I survived the most horrific years I believe mankind ever to have witnessed." Élodie raised her sleeve to reveal a chilling reminder of her war experience: a tattooed number which remained a testament to her internment in a Nazi concentration camp. "I survived, and I don't doubt that the only reason I managed to live through such horror was because of you all; I knew I _had_ to survive."

Jack's face paled visibly at the sight of the tattoo, a thick bile rising in his throat as anger and nausea threatened to overcome him. The older Élodie hadn't said anything about a concentration camp when she had come to them before their mission… As he looked around, he knew that everyone was thinking the same thing; praying that something they had done hadn't led to her incarceration at the mercy of the SS guards.

Élodie let everyone process her revelation for a second before continuing: "I came to America shortly following the war as a refugee among thousands." She smiled slightly, remembering those first years of renewed freedom in the land of opportunity. "I married, bore three lovely children, and generally lived the American dream… but I had one more task left over from France in 1937 that was constantly on my mind."

Everyone in the room looked to Sam and Jack, who in turn were looking at each other. Most faces registered amazement, although both Sam and Teal'c seemed somewhat concerned. It was Teal'c who spoke.

"I do not believe it was wise to attempt to alter the future, Élodie Chabrol." He said gravely looking her straight in the eye, not with malice, but with graveness.

As much as Sam hated to admit it, he had a point. There could have been no telling the consequences of her actions; and although on the face of it everything seemed ok, she had no idea if this would jeopardize the future of Earth down the road.

"Come on T," Jack protested, clasping Sam's hand, trying to assuage her consternation at the same time. "Important as we are, I hardly think us being together is the difference between life and death…"

"Uh, Jack?" Daniel said meekly, almost cowering away from the invalided Colonel as he spoke. "We know of at least two alternate realities when that seemed to be the case…"

"No Daniel," Jack replied instantly, moving closer to Sam, unconsciously wanting to protect her, "In both those realities Sam wasn't in the military – maybe that's the difference."

At that moment Janet grinned widely while eliciting a huge gasp of relief. "So you guys came across the quantum mirror as well? Daniel got lost in an alternate reality, and then the other Sam came through?"

Everyone except Élodie nodded silently, although Jack sported a grin even larger than Janet's, clearly basking in this vindication of his hypothesis. If Janet knew about the same events they did, then maybe it was true that almost nothing had changed. Élodie took this exchange as a good sign and continued.

"In fact, Teal'c," her voice was no longer timid, and her accent seemed to all-but disappear as confidence returned to her demeanour. "After my conversations with Sam and years of reflection, I came to much the same conclusion: that I was potentially playing with fire." She shrugged as the next words came out of her mouth. "I actually hardly did anything to change your situation; all I did was ensure that you two," she indicated to Sam and Jack, "that you two had the opportunity to meet and appreciate each others' company _before _you were required to work together."

"How-?" Everyone in the room barked the question, eyes wide at the Frenchwoman's words.

"I wasn't even sure it was going to work." Élodie chuckled at everyone's reaction. "As it turns out, my late husband was a German-born scientist who had defected to the US before the beginning of the second world war. At the end of the 1940s, he started working for the US government in conjunction with the Airforce in their aeronautical physics section. I kept my eyes and ears open and soon enough the name 'Carter' began appearing." She nodded to Sam, "First it was your father that was spoken of – an exemplary soldier who was well known to many people in both military and civilian circles. I recognized the name and followed your youth from an early age Samantha – from afar _bien sûr_."

"So how the hell-?"

"You must be patient, Colonel," Élodie smiled at Jack knowingly. He was just as she remembered, and definitely as she had been told by many people more recently. "When a young renegade recruit of supreme intelligence, who happened to be Jacob Carter's daughter, came to people's attention, no one but my husband and a few of his colleagues realized her full potential. You were one wild child, _ma chère_." She glanced at Sam again. "Nonetheless, young Sam Carter completed her studies at the academy and continued her research, but her talents were being wasted at the Pentagon – and she was being smothered by a smug superior who did not appreciate her. My husband spoke of her frequently, as he had much admiration for her intellect, and I suggested a mentor for her – not an official superior of course – but someone who could guide help her find her path." Élodie paused, looking pointedly at Jack. "I suggested you, Colonel O'Neill – that was back in the mid 1990s."

The members of SG1 were speechless, but Janet was nodding slowly as if everything were making perfect sense. "You helped each other," she picked the story up from Élodie, as the Sam she knew had told her many times. "Jack had just lost his son, while Sam, you felt completely trapped in your job at the Pentagon and your mother's death still haunted you." Her eyes were glistening with happy tears as she recounted the uplifting tale. "Despite your differences, you both seemed to click almost immediately… by the time the stargate was activated here you were already a couple."

"Hang on a second." Jack was spinning with amazement at all this. "They let us serve on the same team just like that?"

"Of course not," Janet dismissed his comment quickly. "Only you went on the first mission, as Sam hadn't yet been reassigned, and you were still a superior officer."

"Then how-?" Sam hardly managed to stutter the words out.

"Honey, you underestimate your uniqueness." Janet emphasized to Sam. "Without you, there wasn't going to _be _an effective SG1, you two have been jointly in command almost since the beginning."

Everyone in the room digested this information quietly, while Élodie and Janet both had satisfied smiles adorning their faces. It was Jack who seemed the most perturbed – despite his trademark cluelessness when it came to most of the intricacies of their missions and the conundrums that accompanied them, he had learnt a great deal about alternate realities and timelines.

"How do we know everything else is mostly the same?" He asked initially, before a more alarming thought occurred to him. "Why don't our memories reflect this? Why don't _your_ memories reflect what's happened…" He looked at Élodie worriedly, "Where's the _other _us?"

Élodie sighed, looking down for a moment before lifting her head to look at Jack. "I can only answer one of those questions Colonel," she said softly. "I knew I had been successful when five years ago a suffered a series of violent visions within dreams and episodic seizures for a time. I share the same memories of you from when I first appeared at the SGC and you were both Major and Colonel," she nodded to both Sam and Jack respectively, "but at the same time within these seizures and dreams I experienced an alternate series of events with you both a married couple." She grimaced slightly, remembering the painful period of her life. "It was many weeks before I understood what was happening or was able to access the subconscious altered memories that were surfacing in my mind. I do not know why my memory wasn't entirely altered, but then I know very little of the phenomena that would be involved in such extraordinary circumstances."

Jack squinted his eyes shut and sank back into the pillow behind him. "God this is all giving me a headache." The sound of movement made him re-open his eyes as Janet precipitated towards him, looking concerned. "Figure of speech! Figure of speech! No needles required!" he yelped at her before she could come any closer.

The sudden outburst caused everyone in the room to laugh, his characteristic reaction serving as a catalyst to release the tension and confusion that had previously silenced them all. Momentarily forgetting the trials of their recent mission, momentarily ignoring the gnawing questions that still lingered, SG1 was able to relax in the company of each other, content in the knowledge that – yet again – they had helped ensure the stargate programme's – and Earth's – continued survival and prosperity.

FIN

* * *

_A/N: I know, I know… I'm sure you can all come up with holes in this explanation – but then that's ALWAYS the case with alternate reality/time travel issues… there are just too many paradoxes to worry about. Believe me, I typed and retyped so many sections because it was so difficult to bring it all together in a way that was at least acceptable to my mind._

_Oh, I also know that it can't really be left there – although this _**is **_the end. There'll be an epilogue, but I really can't guarantee that I'll manage to get it out before Saturday. At least the fic's finished, right? I mean, they all got back safe and sound; Élodie survived, Jack and Sam are theoretically together… any complaints? Actually don't answer that... bring on the praise instead!_

_All that being said, please review and tell me what you thought. Please please please!_


	13. Epilogue

_A/N: I'd just like to thank everyone who read and (hopefully) enjoyed the fic. I've been working like crazy for the last two days to write this as I leave for Europe tomorrow and will yet again be away from any form of computer. _

_Thanks to Bookworm for posting this for me, and for generally being a great support!_

_I hope you all like this end I've given you. There are always things that are left unsaid, but it's impossible to do it all, so I hope this works well for all of you!_

Epilogue

* * *

Daniel sat nervously across the table in the mess from Élodie as they both picked at the food in front of them. Everything seemed somewhat overwhelming to him but he could tell that something was still bothering Élodie as well. He noticed that she too looked like she'd had a sleepless night. It was his curiosity that kept him from speaking first, he was sure that she still had something to say, and he was going to wait to hear it.

"Are you not hungry?" Élodie asked quietly, breaking the silence between them. Although the people around them continued about their business, she could have sworn that everything had stopped as they faced each other.

"No, not really…" Daniel sighed, letting his fork drop onto the plate with a loud clanging noise. He contemplated the table in front of him for a few moments before looking to Élodie, waiting.

"Daniel," Élodie spoke suddenly, her voice high pitched with anxiety, "I feel I must apologize to you."

This wasn't exactly what Daniel had expected to hear. As far as he knew, _they_ should be apologizing to _her_, not the other way around. Élodie had obviously seen the look of alarm on his face, as she moved her aged hand across the table to grasp his before continuing.

"I feel I must apologize," she said more slowly, "because I was not able to sufficiently impact on your life to correct the pain that you have had to deal with."

Daniel could see the concern on Élodie's face and suddenly felt horrible. This woman had spent her life trying to fix problems that had absolutely nothing to do with her – she had single-handedly achieved what everyone had thought impossible for Sam and Jack, and still she was beating herself up about _him_!

"Élodie you have absolutely _nothing_ to be sorry about!" Daniel exclaimed, his eyes so wide he wouldn't have been surprised if they had dried out altogether. "My wife was from an alien planet – there's hardly anything you could have done!"

Élodie just smiled quietly and shook her head slowly. "But Daniel, it has been some time, and from what I have managed to interpret from what Sam told me, as well as from Dr Fraser's words and actions, there has been an avenue for you to pursue happiness for some time."

Daniel gulped audibly, coughing slightly with the implication. He opened and closed his mouths a couple of times without finding any words. Instead he was frozen there, his mouth working like a fish looking for oxygen.

Élodie leaned forward so her wizened face was mere inches from his, "I will tell you something I told Sam and Jack before you all left for the mission – something I told the Sam and Jack _you _know."

Daniel nodded silently, indicating he'd understood, finally regaining control of the muscles in his face and stopping his mouth from contracting.

"You must not let time go by while continuing to deny yourself the happiness you deserve." Élodie sighed slowly, her eyes portraying the regret she felt at having been born in the wrong generation. She had gotten on so well with Daniel back in the 1930s, many a time she had thought 'if only…'

"I fell in love with you in France Daniel," her voice cracked slightly as she spoke and she glanced away, ashamed of her words. "I would do anything for you to be happy, and I can _see_ how it can be so." She regained force and now directed her eyes back to his, boring into his soul. "I wanted to help Sam and Jack out of gratitude, but _you_," she raised her hand shakily and stroked his cheek. "I want to help you because I can't stand to see you unhappy – and it pains me so that despite the time I've had to rectify things, you still harbor the hurt and pain of your lost wife without having found the comfort of another."

They both sat in silence, oblivious to the strange looks they were now getting. It had been at least five minutes and neither of them had touched their food. Silently, Élodie rose to her feet and disposed of the food tray she had failed to really make an impression on. Daniel still hadn't moved, but was staring vacantly ahead as he considered her words, and the choices he had made, and was now to make. As Élodie approached again, he looked up, the haunted expression still covering his face.

"This is now the time for you to reflect, _mon amour_," Élodie said quietly, her eyes wide with hope. "Only you can make the choices that need to be made." She leant in quietly and kissed him briefly on the cheek before walking slowly out of the mess hall.

It took Daniel a while to collect his thoughts, but the sight of Teal'c entering the room caused him to startle. The one thing he didn't want at this time was a conversation. Ignoring his questioning eyes, he stood up abruptly, nodded at the tall Jaffa, muttering something about work to be done, and rushed out of the room to find Janet.

* * *

Sam sat nervously in Jack's truck as he got out slowly before chivalrously moving around the front end to open her door for her. She wasn't waiting for him to do so, but her "new" life was still so difficult to believe that she required a couple of seconds now and then just to think, to reflect.

"Sam?"

Sam suddenly blinked, Jack was looking at her very concerned, holding the door as he waited for her to exit. She smiled at him, remembering with his soft expression, and the warm way he addressed her, how wonderful this life could be. She lifted herself off the seat and jumped lithely to the ground – despite her respectable height, his truck was still huge.

"I still can't believe that we would have chosen to live at your place instead of mine," she said with a cheeky smile, allowing Jack to clasp her hand in hers, ignoring the gentle shaking of both their fingers.

"What have you got against my place?" Jack appealed with mock hurt. "I mean, sure, it was slightly chaotic before – but I'm sure you managed to 'change me'." He planted a soft kiss on her cheek, right next to her ear, before moving forward, pulling her with him.

Indeed, as they moved through the front door, Jack distinctly felt like he'd stepped into an alternate reality – or at least an altered timeline. The outside of the house may be his, he'd seen the barbecue there, along with the odds and ends that seemed to constantly litter the wall of his shed out in the yard… but _inside_, well it had definitely been Carter-ised.

"Oh!" Sam exclaimed when she saw the surprisingly tasteful interior. Giving Jack a coy look, she let go of his hand and stepped into the kitchen, looking around it in wonder. "Now _this_ is nice…"

Jack merely nodded, grumbling something about the necessity of the fridge still stocking Guinness, as they both moved to the living room to look around. The most interesting feature was the side table under the kitchen divider that housed their photos. The melancholy image of Jack's former family was still there, as was a raucous image of SG1 on a team night from many years before, but the other photos held both fascination and concern for both parties.

For Jack, it was a shock to see photos from Sam's past sitting right next to the reminders of his past – a young Sam with both her parents and her brother; a more recent photo of Sam and her brother's family, Selmak/Jacob proudly standing by them. It was strange that Jack was part of this photo, but stranger still was the photo that formed the centerpiece of the display: an ecstatic looking Sam and Jack at their wedding, laughing out loud, not even realizing a photo was being taken. In the background he could see Daniel giggling with Janet and even Teal'c wearing a huge grin as he apparently chatted to an equally exuberant-looking General Hammond.

Jack subconsciously picked up the photo and moved to the large leather couch behind him, sinking into the spotless white cushions. He felt Sam sit next to him just as distractedly, but said nothing. They both sat there, not knowing what to say, as they considering the truth and reality of their situation.

"No matter how hard we try, we're not them, are we?" Jack said quietly after some time.

"No." Sam didn't take her eyes off the photo, but slid closer to Jack on the couch.

"Then, who are we?" Jack asked in a small voice. "Oh my God… _where_ are _they_?" He suddenly looked to Sam, a terrified expression on his face. If he had taken this guy's life, then when did that leave the other 'them'? Were they doomed in another time, had they managed to 'swap' realities? Another thought occurred to him that made his heart sink. As much as he loved the idea of this close but infinitely better reality, what if they had to go back? What if they had to make things right and be forced to live in the life they had known previously, without each other – and with almost insurmountable obstacles standing between them?

A month later

"Come!" General Hammond barked in the direction of his door following the clipped knock that had sounded. Only one person he knew had such an unafraid and businesslike knock, so he wasn't surprised when Janet popped her head around the doorframe asking permission to enter. "Dr Fraser!" He exclaimed pleasantly, "Please, sit down."

Janet was unnerved by his unfaltering joviality. She had been summoned to his office without a known reason, but she was beginning to suspect he was aware of the changed dynamics of SG1 since their latest mission. "You wanted to see me sir?" She asked quietly, trying with all her force to sound as normal.

"Uh, yes," the General, for his part, was suddenly equally unsure. He knew his people well, and something had definitely changed, but he didn't want to alienate anyone with unfounded feelings, suspicions or even accusations. "I was wondering when I could see the medical reports on SG1," he looked through his stack of papers, showing that he had yet to find them among the plethora of paperwork that graced his desk. "It's unusual for them to be withheld this long."

Janet swallowed slowly, she _had_ been withholding them, but only because of the discrepancy with Sam's results. "I apologize sir," she said in a business-like manner, keeping everything as usual. "There was something I wished to discuss with Colonel Sam O'Neill and I'm afraid I can't give you her report until we have had a proper consultation." The fact that the consultation had effectively already taken place was the only part that was a lie – Janet hoped it would suffice as a reason. "But in any case sir, my reasons for withholding medical reports always falls squarely within doctor-patient confidentiality," it had suddenly occurred to Janet that whatever she knew, the General had no right to pry as he was doing. "Is there something else you wanted to ask, sir?"

General Hammond clicked his tongue impatiently before tapping a hand on the desk and laying it all to bare. "Doctor, you _can't_ tell me that you haven't noticed the altered behavior of Sam and Jack." He hissed, leaning across the desk at her. "Something is different – and in my experience when something's different it's usually _not _good."

"Sir, I think you should talk to Colonels O'Neill." Janet said slowly.

"I have!" the General leant back in defeat, his face the picture of incomprehension. "They insist that everything's fine!" He straightened his back again, assuming an authoritative posture. "Want I want you to tell me, Doctor," he said in a dangerous tone, "is what it is that you all are aware of that I'm not!"

Janet looked straight back into the General's eyes, realizing that they couldn't very well pretend that everything was exactly the same as before when it was patently obvious to most that this was not, in fact, the case. At the same time, there was no way she was going to talk about this behind two of her best friends' backs. Caught between her desire to clear things up, and this fierce loyalty, she suddenly perceived the correct course of action. She sighed deeply, dipping her head in defeat, before speaking.

"Sir, I can't tell you what you need to know – at least not with out Sam and Jack's consent." Janet looked up nervously, wondering if she'd just ruined everything for her two best friends.

* * *

Sam startled awake from the late-afternoon nap she had been enjoying. Not for the first time in the last week, she awoke feeling completely disoriented. True, it wasn't unusual to wake up in different surroundings for her or the other members of SG1, but she knew she was on Earth this time – and yet she wasn't at her house. As she sat up, she remembered that in fact this _was_ her house now.

From the sounds in the kitchen it appeared Jack was already preparing dinner. Deliberately slowing her breath, she lay back down to gather her thoughts before leaving the guest room to help him. Despite their newfound closeness, both she and Jack had agreed that for the time being they should have their "own" room. Granted, she hadn't slept in this room much (except for the odd afternoon nap), but the sheer newness of their situation had weirded them both out.

The sound of people approaching up the driveway startled Sam into action and she hurriedly rose to her feet, checking her hair quickly in the mirror before moving to the hall just as Jack opened the front door.

"General!" Jack exclaimed, with a small voice, shocked to say the least. "I knew we were expecting company," he nodded towards Daniel, Janet and Teal'c, "but _this_ is a surprise."

Sam saw the look on Janet's face as she stood behind the general and suddenly became concerned. She moved closer to Jack, clasping his arm and holding it tight, before speaking herself. "Jan? What's going on?" She moved her eyes quickly from her friends to the General and back.

"Jack, Sam," General Hammond saw the look of fear suddenly wash over both their faces. "I need to know what's going on."

* * *

The dinner was ready, but no one at the O'Neill residence had really noticed. Most of the occupants of the living room were sitting in a state of nervous anticipation, waiting to see what the General's reaction to the 'off-the-record' information he'd just been presented with. Most of all, Sam and Jack were huddled together on one of the couches, petrified of the consequences of what they just told him.

"I'm hoping this isn't a silly question," General Hammond began slowly, shocked and afraid of what the answer might be, "but what happened to the SG1 _I_ know?"

Sam felt Jack's grasp of her tighten slightly as the room collectively held their breaths while waiting for the answer. For her part, Sam again felt that streak of fear she always felt when thinking of this. No matter how much she thought about it, her answer to this question was still insufficient in her mind.

"Well sir, we don't really know." She said softly, looking up at him from her bowed head.

"You don't _know_!" Came the fast response. "Well shouldn't we try to find out? Get them back here? Send you back to where you came from?"

These were the exact words that everyone in the team had been dreading. This was the idea that had been plaguing them all ever since they had fully comprehended their situation. Was it possible that they'd doomed the 'others' to some horrible universe? Sam, for her part, had tried to rationalize both with the others and herself that this wasn't the case. Once again, she tried to provide an explanation and response that was ok.

"Sir, it's not quite that simple." She said hurriedly, trying to speak before the General could have any more outbursts. "This isn't a case of us coming through a quantum mirror like the one we found off-world. This isn't a case of us being in the _wrong_ reality."

"But then how-?"

"Please let me finish – sir." Sam smiled slightly, trusting that her CO knew her well enough to listen. "Our timeline was significantly altered so that when we returned, our future had changed. This is an _altered_ future, not a _different _future. And that difference alone means that it is probably not possible for us to return."

The bald Texan seemed to think this over for a while. Every now and then his face would animate as if he was going to say something, but then he would shrink down into the chair, again deep in thought.

Seeing the look of desperation on Sam's face, Jack spoke out first, leaning forward purposefully to look General Hammond straight in the eye. "As far as we can tell sir – and believe me we've been checking the mission records thoroughly – the only thing that has changed is that we're together." He looked around as everyone else in the room nodded. "Every mission went down almost identically, and our personal relationships outside the base are also unchanged – although some people remember social events with us as a couple whereas we don't."

"And the others?" The low timbre of General Hammond's voice again filled the room. He had controlled his tone but there was still a distinct hint of anxiety present.

"Sir," Sam pleaded with her eyes for him to believe what she was constantly trying to persuade herself of. "We can't be sure of what became of them, but they went back to 1930s France just like we did. They worked with Élodie to return the Stargate to northeast France _just like we did_. And most importantly, they will have returned to the present day… just… like… we… did." She was about to pause, but saw the General gearing up for an intervention so kept going. "The difference, sir, is that when they arrived back, they will have arrived in an alternate reality to this one. An alternate reality that is hopefully identical. An alternate reality which will now start to become different, different in that for them there is nothing strange to get used to."

The General let these words wash over him as he realized the hopelessness of their situation. What Sam was saying made sense, and as the resident expert on these matters, he had never had any problems in trusting her judgment before. In the event that she was wrong, it occurred to him that they were actually in no position to try and change anything.

"We have no way of finding out if what you say is true, do we?" He asked, somewhat startled.

"No." Daniel jumped in, causing everyone to turn their heads and look at him. "Just like in our reality, you destroyed the quantum mirror and we know of no other one out there."

"Even if we had a quantum mirror," Sam continued, "it was difficult enough navigating the infinite realities the last time… we would pretty much be playing with fire if we tried again."

General Hammond leant back in his chair and clasped his head while trying to digest everything they'd been told. Inwardly, he thanked whatever power could possibly be responsible that he hadn't mentioned his uneasiness about SG1's behavior since their return to anyone.

"So you really have all the same memories, with the exception of some alterations of the past couple of years concerning your relationship?" He asked them hopefully, his eyes telling them what they had been so hoping to hear.

Sam and Jack shrank back into the couch and smiled to each other with relief. "Yes sir!" They both said in unison.

"So in your timeline I was still bald?" he said, not without some humor.

Jack snorted at this comment, realizing that once again they'd managed to cross a significant hurdle concerning their integration into their new lives. His eyes twinkled mischievously as he responded: "Not a hair to be seen, I'm sorry to report."

A year later

Jack stood up from the beautifully decorated table at which he had been enjoying a sumptuous meal and clinked his fork against the wine glass in his other hand. The shrill sound of metal on glass brought the bubbling sound of people enjoying themselves to a halt as all eyes turned towards him.

"I know this celebration seems unnecessary to most of you, having attended our wedding only a couple of years ago," he started, winking to those who were in the know. "However, after all the trials me and Sam have been through in the last little while, we thought we should do it again – that and I wanted another party!" His easy grin caused everyone else to smile as they listened attentively. "So," he continued, holding his hand out for Sam and helping her to her feet. "Once again, I want to declare, in front of everyone we care about, that I love this magnificent woman next to me –" he paused to lean over and kiss Sam tenderly on the lips. "And I intend to love her completely for the rest of my life."

Without waiting for any response, Jack put the glass he had been holding back on the table and swooped his arms around Sam in a passionate embrace, totally oblivious to the rapturous applause that now filled the room – applause that was wildly ecstatic in the case of Teal'c, as well as Daniel and Janet, who were themselves sitting with their hands intertwined.

FIN

_A/N: Thanks again for reading. Please let me know what you think. I may be going away, but I hope to see some lovely reviews when I next get the chance to check my email!_


End file.
